Scenarios in Excel: the other sets of figures, hidden scenarios and user names that Scenario Manager keeps in a workbook
Last updated: 29 October 2026
Short answer: a scenario made with Scenario Manager is a named set of input values that Excel saves with the sheet. Every scenario is kept, not only the one the cells show now, so a workbook sent with the best case on screen can still hold the worst case, each department's figures merged in, and the names they were given. The file format can also keep, for each scenario, a comment and the name of the user who last changed it; a scenario marked Hidden is not shown in Scenario Manager while the sheet is protected, and an input cell that was deleted from a scenario can stay in the file. Open Scenario Manager on an unprotected copy, read each scenario, delete the ones that should not go, and check the copy you send.
This page is about Scenario Manager. Defined names, including the hidden names Solver uses, are in defined names and hidden formulas; hidden rows, columns and cells in hidden rows, columns and cells; hidden sheets in hidden sheets; and what sheet protection does and does not hide in sheet protection is not encryption.
A scenario is a saved set of values
Microsoft's page Switch between various sets of values by using scenarios says: "A scenario is a set of values that Excel saves and can substitute automatically on your worksheet. You can create and save different groups of values as scenarios and then switch between these scenarios to view the different results." Its example is a budget with a Worst Case and a Best Case for gross revenue and the cost of goods sold. A scenario is reached from What-If Analysis on the Data tab, and the page notes that "a scenario can contain up to 32 cells".
The cells show one set of values at a time. The others are not on the sheet, but they are not gone: the standard quoted in Microsoft's Open XML documentation describes the input cells of each scenario, and the value of each is the "Value that should be used for the cell when this scenario is run" (inputCells, ISO/IEC 29500-1, 1st edition). Every scenario on the sheet is in the file with its own values, whichever one was shown last.
So a workbook can show the figures you meant to send and still carry the ones you did not: a lower price, a case with fewer staff, a draft forecast. Anyone who opens Scenario Manager and chooses to display another scenario sees its values in the cells; anyone who unzips the file can read them without opening Excel.
Names, comments and the user who changed a scenario last
The same standard lists what a scenario keeps besides its values (scenario):
- a name, "Scenario's name (user input)";
- a comment, "Comment for this scenario";
- a user, the "Name of user who last changed the scenario".
A scenario's name is whatever someone typed, and it is often the most telling thing about it. The comment is free text; in Excel's object model it can be up to 255 characters (Scenario.Comment). In the standard's own example, both comments begin "Created on", and one has a second line, "Modified on" (scenarios), so read a comment for a date or a name that was filled in, not only for what was typed. The user is the name Excel had for whoever last changed the scenario; the standard's example has "anonymous", but it can be a person's name, and it is in the file even when no other part of the workbook mentions them.
Document Inspector covers part of this. Microsoft's page Remove hidden data and personal information by inspecting documents, presentations, or workbooks lists "Scenario comments" among what its Document Properties and Personal Information inspector finds and removes in Excel. Scenarios themselves are on its list of items it finds but cannot remove: "Scenarios that are defined with Scenario Manager and may cause cached or hidden data to be saved with the workbook." The values and names stay until you delete the scenarios.
Hidden scenarios and protected sheets
When a scenario is added, the Protection section offers two options. Microsoft's scenarios page says: "Select Prevent Changes to prevent editing the scenario when the worksheet is protected" and "Select Hidden to prevent displaying the scenario when the worksheet is protected", and notes that "These options apply only to protected worksheets." The standard says the same of the file's hidden flag: the "Scenario is hidden when the sheet is protected and 'edit scenarios' is not enabled in sheet protection options."
Hidden here means not listed while the sheet is protected. The scenario, its name and its values are in the file all the same, and a sheet's protection is not encryption: see what a protected workbook still lets anyone read. Check scenarios on a copy with the sheet unprotected, or in the file.
Input cells that were deleted from a scenario
The standard's input cell has a deleted flag: "Input cell was deleted. This input cell shall be present in the file format, but shall not be presented to the user as part of the scenario inputs, nor run as part of the scenario." A cell marked this way is not shown in Scenario Manager and is not used, but it is in the file with its value. Scenario Manager cannot show it to you; only the file can.
Scenarios merged from other workbooks, and summary reports
Microsoft's scenarios page describes collecting scenarios from other people: "You might collect scenarios from different departments, like Sales, Payroll, Production, Marketing, and Legal", gathering them "into one worksheet by using the Merge command". Its tip is to create a scenario yourself "and then sending your colleagues a copy of the workbook that contains that scenario." Both work in the direction you may not intend when you send the file: merged scenarios bring each department's figures and names into your workbook, and a copy you send carries every scenario in it.
A scenario summary report is an ordinary sheet. Microsoft's page Introduction to What-If Analysis says: "A scenario report displays all the scenario information in one table on a new worksheet." The scenarios page adds that "Scenario reports don't automatically recalculate. If you change the values of a scenario, those changes don't show up in an existing summary report." A report made earlier can therefore show figures that the scenarios no longer hold. Deleting scenarios does not delete a report sheet; delete it separately if it should not go.
Where scenarios are in the file
| What | Where in the .xlsx | What it can say |
|---|---|---|
| The scenarios of a sheet | scenarios in the sheet's part, for example xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml | Which scenario was shown last, and the cells a summary report uses |
| One scenario | scenario, with the attributes name, comment, user, hidden and locked | Its name, its comment, the user who last changed it, and whether it is hidden on a protected sheet |
| Its values | inputCells, each with a cell reference r and a value val, and deleted for a removed cell | The value each cell takes in that scenario, including cells no longer shown |
| A summary report | A sheet of its own, with its own part | The scenarios' values when the report was made |
These are the names the standard uses; a sheet's part name can differ, and xl/workbook.xml with its relationships says which part is which sheet.
Check the scenarios in Excel
- Work on a copy. If a sheet is protected, unprotect it, so that hidden scenarios are listed.
- On the Data tab, select What-If Analysis, then Scenario Manager, on each sheet that may have scenarios. Read the name of each scenario, select it, and read the cells it changes.
- Display each scenario to see its values in the cells, or create a summary report on the copy to see them side by side.
- Delete the scenarios that should not go, and any summary report sheets. The Microsoft pages linked here do not describe deleting a scenario in Scenario Manager; if you use macros, Excel's object model has a Delete method for one. Then open Scenario Manager again on the copy to see what is left.
- Run Document Inspector on the copy, as Microsoft's page describes: it removes scenario comments and lists scenarios it cannot remove.
Check a copy of the file
- Make a copy, rename it to .zip and unzip it.
- In
xl/worksheets/, search each sheet's part for<scenario. Read eachname,commentanduser, and eachvalunder it. - Search the same parts for
hidden="1"anddeleted="1"inside the scenarios. - Finding nothing this way shows only that these searches found nothing, not that the file holds nothing else.
What ScrubDrop does
ScrubDrop reads the file in your browser; it is not uploaded. For free, one file at a time, it lists the kinds of hidden data it supports and removes the document properties and comments, and accepts tracked changes. A scenario's user is listed with the properties, as "scenario author:" and the name, and its comment with the comments, as "scenario comment:" and the text; both are removed in the free version.
The rest of a scenario is treated as content: its name, its values, a hidden scenario and an input cell marked deleted are kept and are not listed, in either version, except as below. Check them in Excel or in the file as above.
Removing hidden sheets, rows and columns is part of ScrubDrop Pro. A hidden sheet that is removed goes with its scenarios. A scenario that holds a value for a hidden cell on a sheet that stays is listed, for example as a scenario value for hidden cell B4 in "Budget"; with hidden sheets, rows and columns ticked, ScrubDrop Pro writes no file and says why: Check "Budget" by hand: a scenario there keeps a value for the hidden cell B4. It does the same when hidden cells are emptied on a workbook where any sheet that stays has scenarios, because a scenario's value "is put into the cell when the scenario is run" (the standard's inputCells), and ScrubDrop does not work out which of them read the cells being emptied. The result is read again with separate parsers, and a file that does not pass is not offered.
Questions
Can someone see the scenarios I did not show when I sent the workbook?
Yes. Every scenario on a sheet is saved with its values, whichever one the cells show. Anyone can open Scenario Manager and show it, or read it in the file. Delete the scenarios that should not go before you send it.
Does marking a scenario Hidden keep it from the recipient?
No. Hidden applies only while the sheet is protected, and not when the protection allows editing scenarios. The scenario and its values are still in the file, and anyone who unprotects the sheet or unzips the file can read them.
Does Document Inspector remove scenarios?
No. Microsoft's page says it removes scenario comments, and lists scenarios among the items it finds but cannot remove. Delete them yourself on a copy.
Sources: the Microsoft pages linked on this page were checked on 29 October 2026. ScrubDrop is not affiliated with Microsoft.
See the scenario authors, comments, hidden sheets and hidden rows an .xlsx keeps, in your browser. Free: one file at a time; every supported kind of hidden data it finds is listed, and properties, comments and tracked changes are removed. Check a file.