Absolute

Hi Nicole,

Thank you for your post, in answer to your question: For the sake of those who dont know, I will explain in a little more depth just what an Absolute reference rather than just saying select the Cell reference and press the F4 key.

There are different versions of an absolute reference, when you apply an absolute reference you can freeze the row, the column, or both by using a $ sign in front of either/or/and the row and column indicators, a quick way of applying the absolute signs ($) to a cell reference is to use the F4 (Function 4) key on the keyboard, this pressed repeatedly will cycle through the 4 options available.

There are two ways of looking at this operation:
1. To Absolute a single cell - select the cell reference in the formula and press the F4 key (Function 4) this will append the $ signs to the cell reference making it absolute. Now copying this formula using the Fill handle, will "pin" that cell reference in the formula to the absolute cell.
2. To apply absolute to a range of cells (a block) I think it is always easier to Name the range, to do this select the cells and then click in the Name Box (on the left hand end of the formula bar) type in a meaningful name and press the enter key.
This has named the cells and the name can be used in a formula ie =sum(Data2007) this will total all the cells in the named range Data2007, naming other ranges will allow you to create formulas of named ranges which will be absolute across the entire workbook.

I hope that has helped, if so please click the resolved link, regards Pete