How to Check For and Evaluate Errors in Excel 2010 Formulas
The Evaluate Formula dialog box in Excel 2010 walks you through the steps used in calculating a result from a formula. This helps locate errors in formulas that are long or have precedents. For example, the formula below refers to different worksheets. Using the Evaluate Formula dialog box makes it easy to see how this formula is worked out by Excel. The step-by-step approach lets you see what is done at each step.
=IF(MAX(Orders!B2:B29)>200,MAX(Orders!B2:B29)*Shipping!C22,Shipping!C24)
Evaluating formulas
Follow these steps to evaluate a formula using the Evaluate Formula dialog box:
Select the cell containing the formula and click the Evaluate Formula button on the Formulas tab of the Ribbon.
The Evaluate Formula dialog box appears.

Using the Evaluate Formula dialog box to assess a formula.
Click the Evaluate button one or more times to evaluate each expression in the formula.
With each successive click of the Evaluate button, the Evaluate Formula dialog box displays the interim results. The Step In and Step Out buttons are enabled during the steps that work on the precedents.
The Evaluate Formula dialog box is great for really seeing how each little step feeds into the final calculated result. Using this dialog box lets you pinpoint exactly where a complex formula has gone sour.
Checking errors
A similar error-hunting tool is the Error Checking dialog box. To use this tool, follow these steps:
Select the cell containing the formula and click the Error Checking button on the Formulas tab.
The Error Checking dialog box appears.

Checking the cause of an error.
Click any of the following buttons to help analyze the error and make decisions about how to correct it:
Help On This Error displays the Excel Help window.
Show Calculation Steps opens the Evaluate Formula dialog box.
Ignore Error ensures that Excel no longer cares about the error. The cell may still display an error symbol, but Excel does not give a hoot, and probably you won’t either, since you clicked the button.
Edit in Formula Bar places the cursor in the Formula Bar, making it easy for you to edit the formula.
Options opens the Excel Options dialog box.
Previous and Next cycle through the multiple errors on the worksheet, assuming there is more than one error.
The Error Checking drop-down list hosts the Trace Error command. Only precedents are pointed out by the tracer lines. This makes it easy to see the cells that feed into a cell that has an error.

Excel Glossary
active cell
The worksheet cell that contains the cell cursor. Each worksheet can have only one active cell.

Excel Glossary
AutoComplete
A feature that looks at the entries that you make in a worksheet column and automatically duplicates them in subsequent rows whenever you start a new entry that begins with the same letter or letters as an existing entry in that column.

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AutoCorrect
A feature that alerts Excel 2007 to common typing errors and your own typing errors (that you specify) and tells the program how it should automatically fix them for you.

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AutoFill
An Excel 2007 feature that quickly creates a series of entries based on the data you enter in one or two cells. AutoFill works with days of the week, months of the year, yearly quarters; consecutive series of numbers; and formulas. You also can add your own custom AutoFill series.

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AutoFilter
A feature in Excel 2010 that enables you to temporarily hide everything in a table except the records you specifically want to view, based on criteria you specify.

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Backstage view
A new feature in Excel 2010 — accessible from the green File tab — that enables you to manage files and to view the properties and stats about the workbook file you're editing.

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cell
The intersection of a column and row in the worksheet.

Excel Glossary
cell address
The cell identifier, determined by its column letter(s) followed by the row number, as in cell A1, the very first cell of each worksheet at the intersection of column A and row 1.

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cell cursor
The black border that surrounds the active cell in a worksheet.

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clip art
Readymade drawings, illustrations, and photos offered by Microsoft for use in Microsoft Office applications.

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Compatibility Checker
A utility in Excel 2007 and 2010 that you use to find potential compatibility issues if you plan to save an Excel workbook file in the older Excel 97–2003 file format.

Excel Glossary
current cell
The worksheet cell that contains the cell cursor. Each worksheet can have only one current cell.

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data table
A range of cells in a worksheet in which you enter a series of possible values that Excel plugs into a formula so you can perform what-if analysis on the data.

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dialog box
A rectangular window with settings and commands that appears when you click a dialog box launcher or certain other commands on the Ribbon.

Excel Glossary
dialog box launcher
A small icon in the lower-right corner of a group of command buttons on the Ribbon that you click to access a dialog box with additional related settings and commands.

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function
A part of a formula that takes a number of specific arguments and then returns a single value based on those arguments.

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gallery
A drop-down list of thumbnail selections that appears when you click certain command buttons on the Ribbon.

Excel Glossary
group
A section of a tab on the Excel 2007 Ribbon that organizes related command buttons into subtasks normally performed as part of the tab's larger core task. The name of a group appears at the bottom of the group, such as the Font group on the Home tab.

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hyperlink
Specially formatted text that anyone can click to jump to Web sites, move to other cells or workbooks, or create an e-mail message.

Excel Glossary
keyboard shortcuts
A combination of keys that you can press to execute certain commands, as opposed to finding and clicking the commands' buttons on the Ribbon or elsewhere.

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Live Preview
A feature in Excel 2007 that enables you to point to thumbnails on a drop-down gallery to see how a new font, font size, table style, or cell style would look on your selected data before you actually apply it.

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macro
A series of commands or actions in Excel that are recorded and saved together in a file. You can run the macro whenever you need to perform the task.

Excel Glossary
Name box
The left-most section of the Formula bar that displays the address or name of the current cell.

Excel Glossary
pivot table
A special type of table unique to Excel 2007 that enables you to summarize large amounts of data and pivot or rearrange the table's data to display different summaries of the information it contains.

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Ribbon
A new feature of the Excel 2007 interface that replaces the menus and toolbars of previous versions; appears at the top of the Excel window, just below the title bar.

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ScreenTip
A small window that displays descriptive text when you point to but don't click a command on the Ribbon or other objects in a worksheet.

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sheet tabs
Small tabs near the bottom of a worksheet that you click to move between the worksheets in a workbook. You can assign descriptive names to sheet tabs.

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slicers
New graphic objects in Excel 2010 that enable you to quickly filter the contents of a PivotTable on more than one field.

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SmartArt
A type of graphic object in Excel 2007 that gives you the ability to quickly and easily construct graphical lists and diagrams in the worksheet.

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sparklines
Tiny graphs (miniature charts) that fit within a single cell in the worksheet, used to show basic trends in data.

Excel Glossary
Status bar
A horizontal bar that appears at the bottom of the Excel 2007 window and keeps you informed of Excel's current mode. In addition, you can use the Status bar to select a new worksheet view and to zoom in and out on the worksheet.

Excel Glossary
tabs
The various "pages" of Excel 2007's Ribbon interface that you click to display command buttons relating to the tab's name, such as Page Layout and Formulas.

Excel Glossary
template
A pre-designed worksheet that can be used as a basis for creating new worksheets.

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WordArt
Stylized text objects that you use to add pizzazz and emphasis to headings and other text in Excel 2007 worksheets.

Excel Glossary
workbook
The basic file type that you create when you use Excel 2007. A new workbook consists of three worksheets by default.

Excel Glossary
worksheet
The main document that you work in when you enter data into cells within Excel 2007. A worksheet is stored in a workbook file.

Excel Glossary
worksheet area
The portion of an Excel 2007 worksheet in which you enter cell data and add objects such as charts and graphics.

Excel Glossary
XPS XML Paper Specification
A file format developed by Microsoft that enables people to open and print documents in XPS Reader without access to the original programs with which the documents were created (such as Excel).

Excel Glossary
Zoom slider
An object on the Status bar in Excel 2007 that enables you to increase the magnification in a worksheet or shrink it down to get an overall picture of the worksheet data.