In such a situation, you can use what's called an absolute reference in Excel, which won't change when you drag or copy it from cell to cell. To create one, precede the row letter and column ...

Microsoft Excel updates cell references when you copy an expression. Here are a couple of workarounds for those rare occasions when you don't want to change the cell references.

Cells in Excel are referred to using relative or absolute references. A formula with relative references changes when the cell's position does.

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.

Referencing can become difficult, especially if you’re using structured referencing. Instead, reference a spill range so you can use the hashtag shortcut.

By default, references in Excel use the A1 reference style, which means that it refers to the column first, and then the row number. However, the INDIRECT function enables you to switch these around.

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.