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How to Compare Outcomes with Excel's Scenario Manager

Scenario Manager saves multiple sets of assumptions for the same spreadsheet, so comparing a best case and worst case takes one click instead of manually retyping numbers each time.

  1. Open What-If Analysis, then Scenario Manager

    On the Data tab of the ribbon, click What-If Analysis and select Scenario Manager.

  2. Click Add to create a new scenario

    Click Add, give the scenario a name, and select the cells whose values will change.

  3. Enter different values for each scenario

    Add several scenarios, such as "Optimistic" and "Pessimistic", entering different values for the same cells in each one.

  4. Click Show to view a scenario's results

    Select any saved scenario from the list and click Show β€” its values are instantly applied to the sheet so you can see the resulting outcome.

Why Scenario Manager beats manual retyping

Any calculation that depends on an assumption β€” a sales forecast, a budget projection, a loan comparison β€” usually needs to be checked under more than one set of numbers. Without Scenario Manager, comparing a best case against a worst case means overwriting the same cells repeatedly and losing track of what was originally there. Scenario Manager keeps every version saved and named, so switching between them is instant and nothing gets overwritten permanently.

Getting more out of saved scenarios

Scenario Manager can also generate a summary report that lays every saved scenario's inputs and results side by side on a new sheet, which is useful for presenting several options at once rather than clicking through them one at a time. It's worth naming scenarios descriptively from the start, since a list of "Scenario 1", "Scenario 2" becomes hard to tell apart later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Scenario Manager permanently change my original data?

Displaying a scenario does overwrite the values in the changing cells on the sheet, but the original values are safe as long as you saved them as their own scenario first β€” you can always switch back by displaying that scenario again.

How many scenarios can I save for one spreadsheet?

Excel allows a large number of saved scenarios per sheet, far more than most practical uses would need, so there's no realistic limit for typical forecasting or comparison work.