Which functions this page treats as volatile
Excel recalculates a volatile function more often than a normal formula, including after edits that do not affect its inputs. This checker scans formula text for NOW, TODAY, RAND, RANDBETWEEN, OFFSET, INDIRECT, INFO, and CELL. RANDBETWEEN is counted on its own and is not also counted as RAND. Text inside quotes is ignored, so a label that says “TODAY” is not a formula. The report gives a count per function and up to fifteen sample addresses such as Sheet1!B12.
Why OFFSET and INDIRECT are different from NOW
NOW and TODAY are obviously volatile: the clock changes. OFFSET and INDIRECT are volatile because Excel cannot see a fixed precedent list. A dashboard that uses OFFSET to pick a column, or INDIRECT to build a sheet name, forces a wider recalculation than INDEX on a normal reference. INDEX is not in this list. Replacing OFFSET with INDEX/MATCH, or INDIRECT with a direct reference or a CHOOSE, is the usual repair when the count is high. RAND and RANDBETWEEN belong in models that truly need a new sample, not in a report that should stay still while someone scrolls.
The repair steps live in the guide on why OFFSET and INDIRECT keep waking up.
Whole-column and whole-row references
The same pass counts references shaped like A:A or 1:1048576. They are not volatile by themselves. They still make calculation heavy because the formula claims every cell in the column. SUMIF on A:A across a workbook is a common reason a file with no volatile functions still crawls. The Audit score treats more than a hundred of those references as a larger deduction than a handful.
How to use the samples
The samples are the first addresses found, not a ranking of the slowest cells. Sort is unnecessary: open one sample, see the pattern, and search the sheet for the same function. Shared formulas are expanded from the master formula so a copied volatile formula is not hidden by Excel’s shared-formula shorthand. Array formulas are counted when their text contains one of the eight names.
What is out of scope
The checker does not time calculation. It cannot know that your INDIRECT is called once and your SUMIFS is called fifty thousand times. Use the counts to decide where to look, then time the workbook in Excel if you need a clock. .xlsb formulas are not scanned. A zero on a binary workbook means “not read”, which the page states, not “your file is fast”. A practical next step on a slow .xlsx is to sort the function list, open two sample addresses, and see whether they share one copied pattern. Fixing the pattern once is more useful than editing fifteen individual cells.