Highlight Audit
See your audit coverage on the model. Highlight Audit colors every cell that carries an audit mark by its status, so which cells are verified — versus still questionable or wrong — is visible at a glance while you review or present. Like the issue lens, it is a view you toggle on and off, not a saved color.
The scenario
You’re partway through a tick-and-tie pass and want to see how far you’ve got — which cells are green-lit, which are still flagged — or to walk a colleague through the coverage. Highlight Audit paints the marked cells by status so the picture is immediate.
Where to find it
ModelXcel Pro tab → Audit group → Highlight Audit (keytip HA). It is a toggle: click on, click off; the ribbon shows the pressed state.
What it colors
It paints cells that carry an audit mark, by status:
| Status | Fill |
|---|---|
| Erroneous | #E5415E (red) |
| Needs Attention | #FFC8C8 (light red) |
| Questionable | #FFEBC8 (amber) |
| Verified | #DCF5DC (green) |
| Not Reviewed | Not colored |
Only reviewed entries are colored (anything still Not Reviewed is skipped). Where several marks meet on one cell, the most serious status wins (Erroneous > Needs Attention > Questionable > Verified). If nothing qualifies, the toggle won’t stick and you’ll see “No reviewed audit entries to highlight. Mark cells as Verified, Questionable, NeedsAttention, or Erroneous, then toggle again.”
The palette is deliberately the same four colors as Highlight Issues — here keyed to audit status rather than issue severity — so the two lenses read consistently. They are still separate lenses over separate data, and only one can be on at a time.
It is a temporary overlay
Exactly like the issue lens: the colors are real cell fills, but the add-in snapshots each cell’s original fill before painting and restores it when the lens comes off. Applying it clears Excel’s native undo; you remove it by toggling off, not with Ctrl+Z. It refreshes live as you change marks.
Save & close behavior
On save the lens is stripped (originals restored) before the file is written and reapplied after; on close it is removed. The colors never reach the saved file.
If it can’t neutralize the lens, it cancels the save or close
As with every in-grid lens, if the add-in can’t safely strip the audit highlights it cancels the save (or close) rather than bake colors into your file. Toggle Highlight Audit off manually and retry, or reopen Excel as the message suggests.
One lens at a time
Highlight Audit, Highlight Issues, and the Risk Heatmap are mutually exclusive. Turning this one on while another is active prompts “Currently showing {other lens}. Switch to Audit Highlights? Existing highlights will be removed.” — confirm to swap, decline to keep the other. The lens is bound to its workbook, so saving/closing a different workbook leaves it untouched.
What is written where
- Workbook (temporary): cell fills on the marked cells, neutralized before every save and on close.
- Memory only: each cell’s original fill (for restore) and the lens on/off + bound-workbook state.
- Never: nothing is written to the
.mxauditsidecar or into the saved.xlsx.
Undo & recovery
Nothing to undo — toggle off (or close the workbook) and every cell returns to its original fill. If a crash leaves colors behind, re-open and toggle the lens on and off once to restore them.
Caveats & limitations
- Reviewed entries only. Not-Reviewed cells aren’t colored; if nothing colors, mark some cells first.
- The colors are real fills that clear native undo and must be neutralized before save/close (which the add-in does, cancelling if it can’t).
- One lens at a time. If the toggle won’t hold, the Risk Heatmap or Highlight Issues is active and you declined the switch.
Related
- Audit Trail & Mark Cell — create and manage the marks this lens colors.
- Highlight Issues — the same idea for review-issue severity.
- Risk Heatmap — the third in-grid lens.