Why "trace dependents" shortcut is not working in excel?

Question

I have found out that "Trace dependents" shortcut Ctrl+[ is not working on particular Excel installations. For example, my colleague's Excel 2010 does not recognize Ctrl+[ while this shortcut perfectly works for me. We have same notebooks, our Windows and Office versions were installed from the same corporate installation package and are absolutely identical.

My home computer version of Excel 2013 has this problem too - Ctrl+[ shortcut is not working.

I have tried to search for solution, but it seems that this shortcut is not widely used (although being extremely handy in my opinion) and I found no solution.

Could anyone advise how can I enable this shortcut at least in Excel 2013.

Solution

Click on the data-cell and touch:

Alt then m then d

as three separate keystrokes and you should create an arrow to the dependent formula-cell.

EDIT#1:

Starting with an empty worksheet, place 1 in A1 and place the formula:

=A1

in cell A2.

If you click on the data-cell A1 and touch Ctrl+] you should jump to the formula-cell A2.

If you click on the formula-cell A2 and touch Ctrl+[ you should jump back to the data-cell A1.

(remember to start with an empty worksheet)

Comments

[Gary's Student]

What Ribbon Tab is active when you touch Ctrl + [ ??

[Denis Avdonin]

I should explain that shortcut Ctrl+[ I am referring to does not put arrows showing which cells are dependent on this one, but it moves cursor to cells in the formula. For example, if you press Ctrl+[ on cell where formula is "SUM(D1:D6)" it will move selection to cells "D1:D6" rather than show arrows.

[Denis Avdonin]

Thank you for your reply. ALT-M-D shows the arrows (and actually is the shortcut to "Trace dependents" button in the ribbon) which is not the same as what Ctrl+[ is doing. Possibly, I should be using another description, because there no such button in the ribbon, which selects the cells in the formula.

[Gary's Student]

@DenisAvdonin See my EDIT#1

[Denis Avdonin]

I did exactly what you suggested, but nothing happens when I press Ctrl+[, I have tried both new empty workbook and existing workbook with lots of formulas. This is the problem that I'm trying to find solution for - Ctrl+[ shortcut is not working.

[Gary's Student]

@DenisAvdonin Are both Ctrl+] and Ctrl+[ not working ???

[Denis Avdonin]

Yes, both of them are not working.

[Gary's Student]

@DenisAvdonin You are correct...it is quite strange....It works for me with Excel 2007 under Win 7