Switching Between Relative and Absolute Cell References in Excel

OK, so I knew there must be an easier way to do this than to surgically insert dollar signs into formulas whenever you needed an absolute cell reference.

I thought maybe you could hold down the shift key as you pointed at a cell while constructing a formula and that would insert $row$col automatically. And maybe the control key would give you a dollar sign just on the row and the alt-key just on the column.

Well, I was right that there is a way, but not about what the way is. The following sitting right there in Excel help:

To switch between relative, absolute, and mixed references

1. Select the cell that contains the formula.


2. In the formula bar, select the reference that you want to change.


3. Press F4 to switch between the reference types.

Note, this also works during the initial input: just after you have clicked on a cell to get its reference into the formula, hit F4 to cycle through the three different dollar sign options (both, row only, column only, neither). Nice trick.