How To Use The Solver Feature In Excel With Practical Examples

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 28, 2025, 4:02 PM

how to use the solver feature in excel with practical examples

You can access Solver by choosing Data ➪ Analyze ➪ Solver. Sometimes this command isn’t available. You have to install the Solver add-in using the following steps: Once you activate the add-ins in your Excel workbook, they will be visible on the ribbon. This indicates the optimum number of units required for maximum profit within the constrained entered. This is just one of the examples that demonstrate how powerful the Excel solver feature can be.

The Solver displays the solution shown in the following figure. The final result of using the Excel solver on the integer linear programming example will be like this. Sometimes you need to make the most of what you have, like limited time, money, or materials. Solver in Excel helps you do just that. It finds the best solution by changing certain values while following the rules you set. In this guide, we will show you how to use Solver with two real examples: one for deciding how many products to make with limited resources, and another for planning a budget without spending...

➤ Go to the Data tab and click Solver. ➤ In the Solver Parameters dialog box, choose the objective cell in the Set Objective field. ➤ Select Max, Min, or Value of to set your goal. ➤ In the By Changing Variable Cells field, enter the cells you want to change to reach your objective. ➤ Under Subject to the Constraints, add limitations that you want to apply. ➤ Click Solve, and Excel will find the optimal solution according to your parameters.

Solver is a built-in Excel tool that helps you find the best answer by changing some values while following certain criteria. It is useful when you want to do calculations like maximizing profit, staying under budget, or planning with limited resources. In this article, we will show you how to use Solver in Excel through two practical examples: optimizing production with limited labor and materials, and allocating a school renovation budget without exceeding set limits. Suppose we have a dataset containing the Profit per Unit, Labor Hours per Unit, and Fabric per Unit for three garment types: T-shirts, Jeans, and Jackets. We also have the Total Labor Hours Available and Total Fabric Available (meters) as our constraints. Below we have the Garment Type and Units to Produce, where we will get the values that can be produced according to the parameters and resources.

In the example in "How to use Solver in Excel", why do you define a constraint for B2, when it is not one of the variable cells? I have tried deleting that constraint and the solution is the same. In the analysis of the solution you say "provided there are at least 50 clients per month" when the condition B4<=50 means that you have "at most 50 clients per month". Otherwise, nice instructions. Very helpful. We define a constraint for B3 because it contains a condition that should be met (cost of the new equipment is $40,000 - it's a fixed amount).

Variable cells are B4 and B5. The phrase "provided there are at least 50 clients per month" relates to a particular solution shown in the screenshot - cost per service ($66.67) was calculated assuming there are 50 clients per month... B4<=50 was the condition for Solver. Solver is a Microsoft Excel add-in program you can use for what-if analysis. Use Solver to find an optimal (maximum or minimum) value for a formula in one cell—called the objective cell—subject to constraints, or limits, on the values of other formula cells on a worksheet. Solver works with a group of cells, called decision variables or simply variable cells that are used in computing the formulas in the objective and constraint cells.

Solver adjusts the values in the decision variable cells to satisfy the limits on constraint cells and produce the result you want for the objective cell. Put simply, you can use Solver to determine the maximum or minimum value of one cell by changing other cells. For example, you can change the amount of your projected advertising budget and see the effect on your projected profit amount. In the following example, the level of advertising in each quarter affects the number of units sold, indirectly determining the amount of sales revenue, the associated expenses, and the profit. Solver can change the quarterly budgets for advertising (decision variable cells B5:C5), up to a total budget constraint of $20,000 (cell F5), until the total profit (objective cell F7) reaches the maximum possible amount. The values in the variable cells are used to calculate the profit for each quarter, so they are related to the formula objective cell F7, =SUM (Q1 Profit:Q2 Profit).

After Solver runs, the new values are as follows. On the Data tab, in the Analysis group, click Solver. Tired of struggling with complex problems in Excel? Excel Solver can help. This powerful tool makes finding the best solutions easy. Unlike Goal Seek or the What-If tool, Solver goes beyond simple scenarios, tackling more complex optimization problems.

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to use Excel Solver with a simple example. Discover how it saves you time and improves your results. Boost your productivity and make better decisions with Excel Solver. Keep reading to see how this feature can transform your workflow! Imagine you want to maximize your profit by adjusting prices and costs while keeping prices and costs within specific limits. Or, you need to allocate your remaining budget across multiple projects with certain spending constraints.

Excel Solver can help you achieve these goals efficiently. Solver in Excel is a special tool with flexible options and features to solve linear and non-linear programming problems. So, solver in excel is also called ‘Linear Programming Solver.’ Solver helps users change the values of multiple variables and provides desired data based on the specified criteria and conditions. Before learning about solver, consider the below table that shows two variables, X and Y, in column A. The total of the two variables must be equal to 100. Also, the variables must satisfy the two conditions.

So, we need to use the following steps to find the values of the two variables using solver in excel. The Solver feature was introduced in Excel in the year 1991. Even though it is a built-in tool by default, it is always hidden. The steps to enable or add Solver in Excel are as follows: Excel includes a tool called Solver that uses techniques from operations research, a field focused on optimizing decisions, to solve all kinds of problems. To load the Solver add-in, execute the following steps.

2. Under Add-ins, select Solver Add-in and click on the Go button. 4. You can find the Solver on the Data tab, in the Analyze group. The model we are going to solve looks as follows in Excel. An optimization tool used to determine the desired outcome by changing a model's assumptions

Excel Solver[1] is an optimization tool that can be used to determine how the desired outcome can be achieved by changing the assumptions in a model. It is a type of what-if analysis and is particularly useful when trying to determine the “best” outcome, given a set of more than two assumptions. Learn with video instruction in CFI’s Advanced Excel Course. The best example of how to use Excel solver is by graphing a situation where there is a non-linear relationship between, for example, the number of salespeople in a company and the profit that... There is a diminishing return on salespeople, so we want to figure out what the optimal number of people to hire is. Put another way, we want to figure out how many salespeople we should hire to get the maximum amount of profit.

The first step is to make sure you have Solver installed in your Excel file. To do this, go to File -> Options -> Add-Ins -> Manage Excel Add-Ins[2]. When the dialogue box appears, make sure the box is ticked, as shown below. Using Solver in Excel helps you find the best way to achieve a goal by changing different variables. You can use it to solve equations, optimize budgets, or even find the best schedule. Here’s how you can do it: input your data, set your objective, choose the variables to change, and define constraints.

Then, run Solver and let it do the math. Using Solver in Excel can make tasks like budgeting or scheduling a breeze. Here, we’ll break it down into simple steps. Go to ‘File’ > ‘Options’ > ‘Add-ins,’ and select ‘Solver Add-In’ from the list. Click ‘Go,’ then check ‘Solver Add-In,’ and hit ‘OK.’ This step is crucial because Solver isn’t enabled by default.

Think of it as unlocking a hidden tool in your toolbox. Enter your data into the spreadsheet, placing variables in separate cells. This tutorial is for the traditional Solver in desktop Excel. For the new, free Solver for Excel for the Web, Macintosh, and Windows, click here. To let the Excel Solver know which cells on the worksheet represent the decision variables, constraints and objective function, we click Solver button on the Excel Data tab (or on the Home tab), which... In the Set Objective (or Set Target Cell) edit box, we type or click on cell F5, the objective function.

In the By Changing Variable Cells edit box, we type B4:E4 or select these cells with the mouse. (Click on the image to see it full-size.) To add the constraints, we click on the Add button in the Solver Parameters dialog and select cells F8:F11 in the Cell Reference edit box (the left hand side), and select cells G8:G11 in... (Click on the image to see t full-size.) We choose the Add button again (either from the Add Constraint dialog above, or from the main Solver Parameters dialog) to define the non-negativity constraint on the decision variables. (Alternatively, we can check the Make Unconstrained Variables Non-Negative option in the Solver Parameters dialog.)

How To Use The Solver Feature In Excel With Practical Examples

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You Can Access Solver By Choosing Data ➪ Analyze ➪

The Solver Displays The Solution Shown In The Following Figure.

➤ Go To The Data Tab And Click Solver. ➤

Solver Is A Built-in Excel Tool That Helps You Find

In The Example In "How To Use Solver In Excel",