In this video I explain how the Arixcel Explorer window works and how to use it to navigate a financial model quickly. It covers working with multiple windows, drilling from outputs through to input assumptions, breaking down formula logic, and the keyboard shortcuts that make all of this faster.
I'm Dan Stockdale, a former financial modelling consultant at PwC, where we were obliged to use Arixcel due to its massive efficiencies in navigating spreadsheets and understanding formulas.
The video focuses on Explore Precedents and Explore Dependents, the Formula Explorer options in the Arixcel ribbon. In my experience these make up 90โ95% of Arixcel use, and Explore Precedents is its core feature.
The demo model
The demo uses a financial model where blue worksheets are outputs, green are calculations and yellow are inputs.
The Consol worksheet consolidates five P&Ls: one for each of four gyms, plus central costs. Assumptions entered in the yellow worksheets flow through the green calculation sheets into the P&Ls and central costs, which are then combined in Consol. The model map summarises this flow.
If you'd like to build a model like this, see my Excel Modeller course for accounting and finance professionals, analysts and consultants.
Explore Precedents
The demo starts in the Consol worksheet with the revenue value 282,048 in cell BT30. The formula bar shows a SUM function with a 3D reference, summing BT30 across worksheets 1 to Central.
To see where this revenue comes from, use Explore Precedents. You can click the ribbon command, but the shortcut Ctrl+Q is much faster.
Arixcel Explorer highlights the cell being explored in pink and its precedents in blue. You can change these colours in the Options menu.
The first row shows the cell being explored, with the full formula below it. The second row shows the SUM function, and selecting it highlights that part of the formula.
You can navigate with the arrow keys instead of the mouse:
- Up/down: move between elements
- Right: expand
- Left: collapse
Expanding the SUM shows its parameters, and expanding further shows the individual precedent cells.
The Explorer window columns
- Element: functions, parameters and precedents
- Info: additional details (often not very useful)
- Value: the value of each component, and the most useful column
- Location: cell references
In this example every row shows 282,048 because there is only one function and one parameter. With a formula containing several SUM functions, the Value column shows what each part contributes, which makes complex formulas much easier to break down.
Why this helps
Instead of clicking through worksheets manually, Arixcel lets you:
- see the contribution from each worksheet
- identify the key drivers, such as the largest contributor
- go straight to precedent cells
In the demo you can see immediately which worksheet contributes most to the total, so you know where to focus your investigation.
Using multiple Explorer windows
You can open further Explorer windows to drill deeper. In the demo I start with 282,048, select one of the contributing values, then press Ctrl+Q again to open a second window and break down its INDEX formula.
Arixcel shows each function's components, what each parameter means and the final result. This is particularly useful for lookup functions like INDEX, where it shows exactly which value is returned, even from a large range.
Things to watch out for
- Undo/redo: once you interact with Arixcel, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y stop working.
- Refreshing: if the model changes while a window is open, press Alt+R to refresh it.
- Editing: you can edit a formula directly in the Explorer window with F2, but the formula bar is usually the better place to do it.
Drilling from outputs to inputs
By repeating this process, you can drill from the Consol output, through the calculation sheets and their functions, all the way to the input worksheets.
To close the Explorer windows:
- press Enter to close them and stay where you are
- press Esc to step back through each level to where you started
This is much quicker and less tiring than tracing formulas manually.
Explore Dependents
Explore Dependents works the other way round: it shows which cells depend on the selected cell. Launch it with Ctrl+Shift+Q.
The window is simpler. It lists the dependent cells, shows how many there are and lets you go to each one. Dependent cells are highlighted in green.
It's useful for:
- understanding how a cell is used in the model
- tracing the outputs affected by an input
- checking whether a cell can be deleted safely: if nothing depends on it, you can remove it
Keyboard shortcuts
- Ctrl+Q: open Explore Precedents, or expand the whole formula in an open window
- Ctrl+Shift+Q: open Explore Dependents
- Arrow keys: navigate the Explorer window
- Esc: close the window and return to the original cell
- Enter: close the window and stay on the current cell
- Ctrl+Backspace: return to the original cell
- Alt+R: refresh an open window
- F2: edit the formula in the Explorer window
You can customise the main shortcuts in Arixcel's settings.
Summary
If you work with financial models or complex spreadsheets, Arixcel saves time, reduces mental effort and makes large models much easier to navigate. To learn how to build models like the one in this demo, see my Excel Modeller course.
