Basically, if you go back to the rental section and work through each individual asset again, the first or second screen for that asset will show the amount of all the depreciation taken in prior years. Then when you get to the screen that shows you the depreciation for 2017 you add the 2017 depreciation to the prior year's total depreciation, and that will give you the total depreciation taken on the asset which you have to recapture when reporting the sale.
If you just report the sale in the rentals section though, the program will take care of this for you automatically. However, there are situations that could have occurred in the past, which would result in incorrect figures being used if reported in the rental section.
For example, if the property was your primary residence for the first 2 of the last five years you owned it prior to the sale, then the program will handle it correctly. However, if the property was your primary residence the last two years you owned it prior to the sale, then the program will not handle it correctly if you report it in the rentals section. (It doesn't properly figure the exemption percentage.) In such a case, you have to report it in the "Sale of Business Property" section of the program.
