About This Shortcut
When you select a formula and use this shortcut, Excel will select cells that are directly referred to in the selected formula. The idea behind the word precedent in this case is "precede" or "before"...cells that come before.
Select direct precedents
Related videos
Shortcuts for Go To Special
In this video, we'll take a look at some shortcuts for selecting "special cells".
Excel provides a dedicated dialog box to access special groups of cells, called "Go To Special".
To access this dialog with the keyboard, type Control + G, then click the Special button (or use Alt + S) on Windows. …
How to trace formula relationships
In this video, we'll look at how to quickly find formulas and trace how they are related to one another using the concept of precedents and dependents.
Here we have a simple model that shows the expense of making coffee at home vs. buying coffee in a coffee shop.
Let's take a look through the …
Author
Dave Bruns
Hi - I'm Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.
Thanks again, Dave. It works! YOU ROCK!!! :)
Sandy
Get Training
Quick, clean, and to the point training
Learn Excel with high quality video training. Our videos are quick, clean, and to the point, so you can learn Excel in less time, and easily review key topics when needed. Each video comes with its own practice worksheet.
View Paid Training & Bundles
