When you’re working in Excel, it’s often useful to watch cells and the values contained inside them. With smaller sheets, this is very easy. But with larger sheets with many rows and columns, these cells may not be actually visible. Fortunately, Excel makes it simple to keep an eye on those values. Let’s learn how to use the Watch Window in Microsoft Excel.
How to Use the Watch Window in Excel
Let’s imagine that you have a series of cells that you want to monitor. These are in the range C3:C5. At a glance, you want to be able to see any changes made by you or other users. For example, if a value is changed from 68 to 78, you want to observe it, whether or not the cell is actually visible on screen.
This is where Excel’s Watch Window comes in. The Watch Window lets you monitor cells that you select. To use it, begin by highlighting the range of cells that you want to watch. Once again, this range is C3:C5 in this example.
Then, go to the Formula tab. You’ll find this on Excel’s ribbon up at the top of your screen. Here, you’ll see an array of options. The one you want is Watch Window, found over on the right side. Click it, and the Watch Window sidebar will open.
Click on the + symbol in the upper left corner, and Excel will add your selected cells to the Watch Window. Now, any time you make a change to the cells, the most current value will appear in the Value column. This works whether or not the cells are visible on your workbook.
As you can see, Excel’s Watch Window feature makes it easy to monitor the values inside any cell or cells in your workbook. This is a quick way to track changes and ensure that your data is accurate.
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