The “silent failure” crisis
Most spreadsheet disasters don’t announce themselves with #REF!. They calculate perfectly, look professional, and pass
the eye test—while quietly pulling from the wrong row, using the wrong match behavior, drifting one cell off, or hiding assumptions
inside formulas.
A silent failure is a formula that looks correct and returns a plausible number—while being logically wrong.
Manual peer review vs SheetSage (side-by-side)
Manual review isn’t “bad.” It’s misapplied. Humans should validate meaning and business intent—not hunt for missing parameters across hundreds of similar formulas.
| Dimension | Manual peer review | SheetSage (mechanical detection) |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Often hours for complex workbooks | Often seconds to scan; very large workbooks can take longer |
| Coverage | Sample-based (by necessity) | Full-workbook scan across tabs (including hidden ones) |
| Consistency | Varies by reviewer + fatigue | Same rule set every time |
| Fix confidence | Edit and hope; rely on version history | Snapshot before changes; restore instantly |
| Best at | Business logic + assumptions | Mechanical silent-failure patterns (R1–R5) |
The five silent killers (R1–R5)
SheetSage focuses on mechanical patterns that repeatedly cause silent failures: the things manual audits tend to miss or only spot-check.
0 (exact mode) in nested MATCH patterns is a common silent bug.
$ anchors causes ranges to drift off by one (or worse).
*1.08, thresholds, hardcoded indices) create “assumption debt”; detected for cleanup.
The 2026 workflow: hybrid intelligence
Don’t replace analysts. Give them an exoskeleton:
- Mechanical scan: surface R1–R5 risks across the workbook.
- Cluster remediation: fix the pattern once, not 200 times.
- Snapshot safety net: restore instantly if results change unexpectedly.
- Strategic human review: validate assumptions, policy, and reasonableness.
Security & privacy
SheetSage runs inside Google Sheets (Apps Script). Spreadsheet content is designed to stay inside your workbook. Subscription checks (if you upgrade) transmit only an anonymous client ID.
- Snapshots: stored locally in a hidden sheet for one-click restore.
- Local metrics: stored in Apps Script properties (no formulas, sheet names, or cell addresses).
- More details: Privacy Policy
Common objections
“We’re already good at catching errors.”
You’re good at catching errors that look like errors. Silent failures are the ones that look reasonable.
“Manual review teaches juniors.”
Agreed. A mechanical detection report can be a teaching tool: it points to the exact pattern, explains why it’s risky, and shows a safer fix.
“This is overkill for small sheets.”
Silent failures don’t require big spreadsheets. A 50-row commission calculator can contain the same match-mode risk and magic-number debt as a 5,000-row model.