Cell references in Excel are like addresses that point to specific cells. Three types of Excel cell references are relative, absolute, and mixed, each with unique functions.

Relative cell reference: When copied across multiple cells, the cell formula changes based on the relative position of rows and columns. For example, if you copy the formula =B3*C3 from row 3 to ...

This relative reference can be included in almost any formula to reference single cells, such as "=A1+1" or "=A1+A2+A3." Place a colon between two relative references to include all cells between ...

1. Use Relative cell references Always use Relative cell references/addresses (the default is Absolute references) unless your macro is for one specific application in one spreadsheet.

Adding a text to a cell in Excel using Formula requires use of ampersand operator, CONCAT function, or the LEFT, RIGHT, and LEN functions.

Q: My partner says there’s an F4 shortcut to creating absolute cell references in Excel formulas, but for the life of me I can’t make it work.

Relative Cell References A basic sum calculation using relative references might be entered as "=SUM (C4:C6)" in cell C7 to add the numbers in the three cells to the left of C7.