Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Creating Scenario Summaries.

Creating Scenario Summaries

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 1, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365

If you have a number of different scenarios devised for a worksheet, you can quickly create scenario summaries. These list the values in each of your scenarios, along with any result cells you want to show. They are very helpful for providing an overview of the different scenarios.

To create a summary, all you need to do is follow these steps:

  1. Display the Data tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the What-If Analysis tool (in the Data Tools group) and then click Scenario Manager. Excel displays the Scenario Manager dialog box.
  3. Click on the Summary button. Excel displays the Scenario Summary dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Scenario Summary dialog box.

  4. Using the two radio buttons in the Report Type area of the dialog box, select the type of summary report you want. Most of the time you will select the default (Scenario Summary), although you can create a PivotTable, if desired.
  5. Specify in the Result Cells field the result cells you want included in the report.
  6. Click on the OK button. Excel inserts a worksheet, labeled Scenario Summary, before the current one and constructs a fully formatted summary report in it.

Even though the report is fully formatted, you can make formatting changes as you deem appropriate. You will probably want to do this anyway, since Excel uses cell addresses for cells that aren't named. Make your changes and then save your workbook as you normally would.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8570) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Creating Scenario Summaries.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Discovering Where Word Stores Settings

How to find your setting information in Word.

Discover More

Creating a Bibliography from Footnotes

Most scholarly papers need to have both footnotes and a bibliography. The two are closely related, as they provide ...

Discover More

Skipping Numbering

Got a numbered list, but you want to add other types of non-numbered paragraphs in the middle of the list? It's easy to ...

Discover More

Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2013 For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Showing a Scenario

When you create and save scenarios in a workbook, you can later pull them out and display them. Here's how to do it.

Discover More

Editing a Scenario

Once a scenario is defined and saved, you can later revisit the values you created for the scenario and modify them. ...

Discover More

Creating Scenarios

Excel allows you to create different scenarios for the data in your worksheet. These can be saved and managed using the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 1 + 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.