- A simple example: how many orders a day?
- Running Goal Seek step by step
- The rule that stops Goal Seek working
- Only one input at a time
- Everyday questions Goal Seek can answer
- When Goal Seek gives an odd answer
- Goal Seek, Solver or a data table?
- Making the sheet easy to reuse
- My verdict
- Frequently asked questions
To use Goal Seek in Excel, go to Data, What-If Analysis, Goal Seek. Put the cell holding your formula in Set cell, the result you want in To value, and the input cell Excel can change in By changing cell, then select OK. Excel works backwards and fills in the input that gives your target.
Most of the time you put numbers into a formula and read the answer. Goal Seek does it the other way round: you tell Excel the answer you want, and it works out the input. Microsoft describes it as the tool for when you know the result you need from a formula but not the value that gets you there. For planning stock, staffing or orders, that's surprisingly handy.
A simple example: how many orders a day?
Say one packer clears 2 orders an hour during a shift, and you want to know how many hours that shift needs to be to clear a set number of orders. Set up a tiny sheet:
| Cell | What it holds | Example |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | Orders packed per hour | 2 |
| B2 | Hours in the shift | 1 (a placeholder) |
| B3 | Formula: orders cleared | =B1*B2 |
Now ask Goal Seek how many hours you need to clear 10 orders. The answer is obvious here, but the method is the same for formulas you can't work out in your head.
Running Goal Seek step by step
- Go to the Data tab. In the Forecast group, select What-If Analysis, then Goal Seek.
- In Set cell, enter B3, the cell with your formula.
- In To value, type the result you want: 10.
- In By changing cell, enter B2, the input Excel is allowed to change.
- Select OK. Excel changes B2 to 5 and shows a status box. Select OK to keep the answer, or Cancel to put the old value back.
Those three boxes are the whole tool. Set cell is the formula, To value is your target, By changing cell is the lever Excel pulls.
The rule that stops Goal Seek working
This is what catches people. Microsoft says the cell Goal Seek changes must be referenced by the formula in the Set cell. If B3 doesn't use B2, directly or through other formulas, Goal Seek has nothing to adjust and won't find an answer.
Microsoft also says Goal Seek requires that you start with a formula. Set cell must hold a formula, not a typed number. And By changing cell must hold a plain value, not a formula. Mix those up and you'll get an error or no change.
Only one input at a time
Goal Seek changes a single cell. Microsoft is clear that it works with one variable input value, and if you want to adjust more than one, you need the Solver add-in instead. So if you want to know how many staff and how many hours you'd need together, Goal Seek can't juggle both. Fix one, then seek the other, or use Solver.
Everyday questions Goal Seek can answer
- Stock: how many boxes to order so the shelf count reaches a target after this week's orders.
- Attendance: how many sessions a client needs to attend to hit an attendance rate you've agreed.
- Capacity: how many orders per hour the team must pack to clear the backlog by Friday.
- Content: how many posts a week to reach a quarterly target.
Each one is a formula plus one unknown. Write the formula with a placeholder value, then let Goal Seek find the real one.
When Goal Seek gives an odd answer
Goal Seek tries values until it gets close to your target, so sometimes the answer has long decimals, with a long string of decimals instead of a whole number. Round it in your head or wrap the input in a ROUND function afterwards. If it can't find a solution, check the target is possible: if the formula caps at a maximum, no input will reach a number above it. Microsoft's example finishes by formatting the changed cell so the result displays clearly, which is worth doing for anything you'll show someone else.
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Goal Seek often sits on top of a division, such as orders divided by hours. If you want to brush up on those formulas first, my guide to dividing in Excel covers the basics. Many Goal Seek sheets rely on simple multiplication, and my guide to multiplying in Excel covers those formulas.
Goal Seek, Solver or a data table?
| Tool | Best when | Inputs it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Goal Seek | One target, one unknown | One cell |
| Solver add-in | Several unknowns or limits | Several cells |
| Typing values by hand | You want to compare a few options | Whatever you type |
Making the sheet easy to reuse
Once you've built a Goal Seek sheet, label every cell in column A so you remember what each number means next time. Keep the formula cell and the input cell visibly different, for example by shading the input cell, so nobody types over the formula. I keep a small planning tab like this in my main workbook and rerun Goal Seek whenever a target changes, which takes seconds rather than rebuilding the maths each time.
My verdict
Goal Seek is one of those Excel features that looks technical and turns out to be three boxes. Build the formula first, point Set cell at it, give it a target and one cell to change. I'd use it whenever I catch myself typing different numbers into a cell to see what happens; it does that guessing for you in a second.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Goal Seek in Excel?
On the Data tab, in the Forecast group, under What-If Analysis.
Why isn't Goal Seek working?
The formula in Set cell must refer to the By changing cell, and Set cell must contain a formula.
Can Goal Seek change more than one cell?
No. Microsoft says it works with one input value. Use the Solver add-in for more than one.
Can I undo a Goal Seek result?
Yes. Select Cancel in the Goal Seek status box, or press Ctrl+Z afterwards.
