Home → Troubleshooting → @RISK for Excel: Simulation → Calculation Changed to Manual by a Simulation?
Applies to: @RISK for Excel, all releases
Does @RISK set Excel calculation to Manual? After a simulation I found that my workbook's calculation mode had changed.
It's true that @RISK sets Manual Calculation during a simulation. However, before the simulation @RISK notes the calculation mode, and after the simulation @RISK restores that mode. If you are in Manual Calculation after a simulation, you were in Manual Calculation before the simulation.
For an exception, please see Calculation Changed to Manual while Browsing Results?
In release 5.5, under certain circumstances, an error in the @RISK program did cause it to leave Excel in Manual Calculation after a simulation. This was fixed in release 5.7. Customers with current maintenance contacts are entitled to a free upgrade to the current version of @RISK; please contact your Palisade sales manager for assistance.
Does Excel ever change my calculation mode on its own?
Yes, Excel can silently change the calculation mode in a workbook, so that you don't notice when this happens.
Excel's calculation mode is a global setting but is also stored in each workbook. If the first workbook you open is in Manual Calculation, then all later workbooks opened in that Excel session will also be in Manual Calculation. Any saved workbook will include the current calculation option, with effect the next time you open that workbook in Excel.
Therefore, you should check the calculation mode after opening your workbook(s) but before starting a simulation.
If you find you're in Manual Calculation and you want to be in Automatic Calculation, change it and save every workbook. (You may need to change something in each workbook. Options are not always saved if there were no actual changes to the workbook.)
See also: Microsoft's article How Excel determines the current mode of calculation.
Last edited: 2018-11-06