How to Check for Circular References in Excel

A circular reference happens when a formula refers to the cell in which it resides. If this happens, the formula will fail to find a result and will enter the result of "0" into the document. You can check for and fix these errors by using the error checking command in Microsoft Excel 2007. Follow the steps below to check for and fix the circular references within your Excel spreadsheet.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Excel 2007

Instructions

1. Start Microsoft Excel 2007 and open a workbook from your files that contains formulas that aren't properly calculating a result.

2. Study the formula that isn't calculating a result. Check to see if a cell reference in the formula is referring to the cell that the formula resides in. If it is, then you have a circular reference.

3. Select the "Formulas" tab to display the "Formula" ribbon. This contains all the formula options for an Excel workbook.

4. Click the arrow to the right of the "Error Checking" button in the "Formula Auditing" section of the "Formula" ribbon.

5. Point to "Circular References" from the "Error Checking" menu to display the list of formulas that contain a circular reference in your open Excel workbook. Click on the formula you want to fix, and it will become selected in the worksheet.

6. Correct the formula in the "Formula Bar" of the Excel spreadsheet. You will need to either move the formula to another location or change the reference within the formula to a different cell reference.

7. Press the "Enter" key to enter the new formula into the worksheet. Continue to check for and fix all of the circular references within the spreadsheet.