Inspect Workbook: Document Inspector, Accessibility, and Compatibility

Before a workbook leaves your hands—whether it's a financial model emailed to an auditor, a dashboard published to SharePoint, or a legacy report saved back to .xls—you should run it through Excel's three built-in checkers. They live together under File > Info > Check for Issues and answer three different questions: What private metadata is buried in this file?, Can a user with a screen reader use it?, and Will it still work in older Excel?

Part 1: Document Inspector

The Document Inspector scans for hidden content and personal information that you may not want shipped with the file. Treat it like running a git secrets scan before pushing—you're looking for things you didn't realize you were sharing.

Launching the Inspector

1. Go to File > Info.
2. Click Check for Issues (the dropdown next to the Inspect Workbook heading).
3. Choose Inspect Document.
4. If prompted, save the workbook first—the inspector recommends a save because some removals are irreversible.
5. Tick the categories you want to scan and click Inspect.

What the Inspector Looks For

• Comments and Notes — Both modern threaded comments and legacy cell notes.
• Document Properties and Personal Information — Author name, last-modified-by, file path, custom properties, and template name.
• Data Model — Embedded data model used by Power Pivot.
• Content Add-ins and Task Pane Add-ins — Office Add-ins stored in the file.
• PivotTables, PivotCharts, Cube Formulas, Slicers, and Timelines — Listed because they may carry source-data fragments in cache.
• Embedded Documents — OLE objects such as embedded Word docs or PDFs.
• Macros, Forms, and ActiveX Controls — Detected so you can decide whether to keep automation.
• Links to Other Files — External workbook links.
• Real Time Data functions — RTD() calls.
• Excel Surveys
• Defined Scenarios
• Active Filters — Currently applied AutoFilter or Slicer states.
• Custom Worksheet Properties
• Hidden Names — Defined names with the Visible = False attribute (often left over from add-ins).
• Ink — Pen and highlighter annotations.
• Custom XML Data — XML parts attached to the file (used by some compliance tools).
• Headers and Footers — Print metadata that often contains usernames or file paths.
• Hidden Rows and Columns — Counts of any hidden ranges.
• Hidden Worksheets — Sheets with Visible = xlSheetHidden or xlSheetVeryHidden.
• Invisible Content — Objects formatted to be invisible.

Acting on the Results

After the scan, each category shows either a green check or a red exclamation. Categories with findings expose a Remove All button.

Part 2: Check Accessibility

The Accessibility Checker evaluates whether assistive technologies (screen readers, magnifiers, high-contrast modes) can interpret the workbook. Microsoft 365 also surfaces a live status indicator in the status bar: Accessibility: Good to go or Accessibility: Investigate.

Launching the Checker

• File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility, or
• Review tab > Check Accessibility.

The Accessibility task pane opens on the right and groups findings into three severities: Errors, Warnings, and Tips.

Common Issues It Reports

• Missing alt text — Images, charts, SmartArt, and embedded objects without alt text. Right-click the object > View Alt Text... to add a description.
• Tables without a header row — Excel Tables where the Header Row checkbox (Table Design tab) is off. Screen readers rely on headers to announce column context.
• Default sheet names — Sheets still named Sheet1, Sheet2. Rename them to something meaningful so screen-reader users can navigate.
• Merged cells — Merging breaks the row/column reading order; the checker recommends using Center Across Selection instead.
• Hard-to-read color contrast — Foreground/background combinations that fall below WCAG contrast thresholds.
• Hyperlink text — Raw URLs (https://example.com/...) instead of descriptive link text.
• Blank rows or columns inside data regions — Treated as the end of a table by some assistive tools.

Fixing Issues from the Pane

• Click any item in the results to jump to the offending object.
• Use the Recommended Actions dropdown for one-click fixes (e.g., Add a description, Mark as decorative).
• Tick Keep accessibility checker running while I work to get real-time feedback in the status bar.

Part 3: Check Compatibility

The Compatibility Checker flags features that won't survive a save to an older .xls (Excel 97-2003) or earlier .xlsx format. Run it before sharing a workbook with anyone who hasn't upgraded.

Launching the Checker

1. Go to File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Compatibility.
2. Click Select versions to show... to choose any combination of:
   • Excel 97-2003
   • Excel 2007
   • Excel 2010
3. Review the Summary list.

Two Severity Tiers

The results pane separates problems into two buckets:

• Significant loss of functionality — Features that will be removed or converted to static values when saved in the older format. Examples: dynamic array spills, LET/LAMBDA formulas, XLOOKUP, more than 65,536 rows of data, slicers, timelines, and PivotChart features introduced after the target version.
• Minor loss of fidelity — Cosmetic features that will be degraded but still functional. Examples: a custom theme color rounded to its nearest legacy color, a 2010-era data bar simplified to a 2007-style bar.

Each row in the list includes an Occurrences link that, when clicked, jumps to the cell or object causing the issue—or copies the list to a new worksheet via Copy to New Sheet.

Saving as .xls (Excel 97-2003)

1. Choose File > Save As (or Save a Copy in OneDrive).
2. In the file type dropdown, select Excel 97-2003 Workbook (*.xls).
3. Excel re-runs the Compatibility Checker automatically and shows the dialog one more time.
4. Click Continue to accept the conversion, or Cancel to fix issues first.

Putting It All Together: The Pre-Release Checklist

Before publishing a workbook to a wider audience, run all three in sequence:

1. Check Accessibility first—fix alt text, headers, and sheet names while you still have the original content.
2. Check Compatibility if any consumer is on an older Excel version, and either fix the formulas or commit to the .xlsx-only audience.
3. Inspect Document last, immediately before sending. This strips author names and hidden helpers without affecting the work you just did.

Links:

• Microsoft Support - Remove hidden data and personal information by inspecting documents, presentations, or workbooks
• Microsoft Support - Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker
• Microsoft Support - Make your Excel documents accessible to people with disabilities
• Microsoft Support - Use the Compatibility Checker
• Microsoft Support - Save an Excel workbook for compatibility with earlier versions of Excel