Name Conversion
Move a model between two equally valid forms of the same formulas. Flatten Names rewrites the defined names in your formulas into direct cell references — the explicit, self-contained form a reviewer or an external system can read without your Name Manager. Apply Names does the reverse, restoring business-readable names over raw coordinates. It is a formula-text rewrite engine, not a cosmetic pass: it changes only the text of formulas — never cell values, never the defined-name catalog — and a guarded, one-level Restore snapshot backs out the last run.
Why it exists
Defined names make a financial model readable: =Revenue-Costs says what it means, while =$E$10-$E$11 does not. But names are also a liability the moment a model leaves your hands. A reviewer auditing the logic has to keep cross-referencing the Name Manager; a counterparty’s valuation system, a data-room converter, or a diffing tool may mishandle defined names, resolve them differently, or drop them entirely. Name Conversion lets you switch between the two forms on demand:
- Flatten for audit and handoff. Flatten Names turns name-heavy formulas into raw, absolute coordinates so every formula is self-contained — ideal for sending a model to a reviewer, a counterparty, or a system that mishandles defined names.
- Apply for readability and governance. Apply Names restores existing names over coordinate references, so an imported or coordinate-heavy model reads in business terms again — without ever inventing new names.
- Formula governance. The two commands are a controlled, reversible way to enforce a house convention (named or flattened) across a model in one pass, instead of editing formulas by hand.
The three commands
On the ModelXcel Pro tab, Name Conversion is the third group. It holds two large buttons and one recovery button:
| Command | Keytip | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Flatten Names | FN | Replace defined names used in formulas with their direct, absolute cell references. |
| Apply Names | AN | Replace plain cell references with existing defined names that target exactly those cells. |
| Restore | RN | Undo the most recent Flatten or Apply run for this workbook from an in-memory snapshot. |
Both Flatten and Apply ask you to pick a scope first, then run with a cancelable progress window. Restore is greyed out until one of them has run and left a snapshot.
What changes — and what does not
Name Conversion rewrites formula text and nothing else
This is the single most important thing to internalize. Both commands edit only the text of formulas. Specifically:
- Only formula text changes. Every write goes through the formula APIs; the add-in never assigns a cell value. Cells that don’t hold a formula are skipped entirely.
- Cell values are not intentionally changed. Each substitution points at the same cells the original referenced, so the computed result is meant to stay the same. (See the caveat below — this is a design intent, not a guarantee for every Excel edge case.)
- Defined names are not deleted. Flatten rewrites the formulas that use a name; the name itself stays in the Name Manager (typically just unreferenced afterward).
- No new names are created. Apply is a strict reverse lookup against names that already exist; it never adds a name.
A note on computed values
Because each rewrite resolves to the same target, computed results are designed to be unaffected. We do not claim values are guaranteed identical in every Excel edge case — for example, around dynamic arrays, legacy CSE array formulas, or volatile functions the add-in takes care to preserve semantics, but the only authoritative check is your model’s own recalculated outputs. Convert, then confirm the numbers you care about.
Scope: how much to convert
Both Flatten and Apply open a Choose Scope dialog before running. You pick one of three scopes; the dialog remembers your last choice and starts on Entire workbook the first time:
| Scope | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Entire workbook | Every visible worksheet’s used range. Hidden and very-hidden sheets are auto-skipped (and reported). |
| Active sheet | The active worksheet’s used range — processed even if the sheet is hidden. |
| Current selection | Exactly what you have selected, across every sheet the selection touches (multi-area selections are unioned per sheet). |
See Rules & troubleshooting for exactly what each scope includes and which sheets are skipped.
A typical workflow
The commands are designed to be used as a round trip — flatten to hand a model off or audit it, then restore (or re-apply names) to get the readable form back:
| Step | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Audit / prepare | Decide the model needs to be self-contained for a reviewer or an external system. | You choose to flatten. |
| 2. Flatten | Flatten Names over the chosen scope. | Names in formulas become absolute references; a snapshot is captured. |
| 3. Review / hand off | Audit or send the flattened model; every formula now stands on its own. | No Name Manager required to read it. |
| 4a. Restore | Restore in the same session. | The original named formulas come back, cell by cell, from the snapshot. |
| 4b. or Apply Names | Apply Names if the snapshot is gone, or you started from a coordinate model. | Existing names are re-applied where a reference still exactly matches one — a partial reconstruction, not an exact undo (constants Flatten inlined as literals can’t be recovered). |
Restore is one level, in-memory, and per workbook
Restore undoes only the most recent Flatten or Apply run, only for the workbook it was taken on, and only while that workbook is open in the current Excel session. The snapshot lives in memory — it is never saved into the file and is gone when you close the workbook or restart Excel. It is also not Excel’s Ctrl+Z. If the snapshot is gone, Apply Names can rebuild many names but is not an exact undo — it can’t recover constants Flatten inlined as literals, or references without an exact name match. Restore is the only exact way back. See Restore for the full safety model.
License & availability
Flatten Names and Apply Names are enabled whenever the license state is Trial, Licensed, or Grace — the buttons grey out only when the license is inactive. An open workbook is required; with none open you’re prompted to “open a workbook first.” Restore has an extra condition: it is enabled only while a snapshot exists for the active workbook (and the license is active). See Activation & licensing.
In this section
- Flatten Names — names to direct references, with the exact rewrite rules and before/after examples.
- Apply Names — references back to existing names, and why some references are left alone.
- Restore — the in-memory snapshot, what it skips, and how Save-As is handled.
- Rules & troubleshooting — every skip reason, the scope rules, and a side-by-side command matrix.
Related
- Formula Tools — trace and understand the formulas you’re converting.
- Audit & Review — review a flattened model before handing it off.
- Compare — confirm a conversion changed only formula text, not outputs.