Recording macros with relative referencing in Excel 2016 How do I turn on relative referencing when recording a macro in Excel for Mac 2016? There is a button in the Windows version but I cannot find this function in the Mac version. This tutorial will guide all levels of Excel users on how to manipulate absolute and relative references in Excel and Mac. Figure 1: Absolute and Relative Reference in Excel and Google Sheets on Mac. To copy down a formula, click on the cell with the formula, at the bottom right, you will see a small box.
One of the most common ways of creating a macro is to use the macro recorder built into Excel. The recorder allows you to record your keystrokes and play them back again later. When you record your macros, Excel is very literal about recording what you do. For instance, if you start recording while cell B7 is selected, and then you press the Down Arrow key, cell B8 is now selected.
When you later select cell E12 and play back this macro, you might expect that the macro would move down one cell, to E13, as if you had pressed the Down Arrow key. Instead, when that line of the macro is executed, cell B8 is selected.
The reason this happens is that Excel memorized your absolute steps. It didn't record the press of the Down Arrow key, but instead recorded the movement to cell B8. This exemplifies the default condition of the macro recorder—to record all movements and cell references absolutely.
If you instead want your macros to be recorded relatively (so that the macro moves down one cell instead of moving to cell B8), then you need to instruct Excel to do so. You do this by clicking Use Relative References on the Developer tab of the ribbon. After clicking, all your subsequent actions are interpreted relative to the currently selected cell. Click the tool a second time, and you are back to subsequent actions being interpreted absolutely.
It is important that you remember to click the appropriate tool before you take an action that is recorded. The tool's state (on or off) affects only the recording of future actions, not what has been already recorded.
The dollar sign ($) in Excel tells Excel to change or not to change a cell reference when a formula is copied to another cell. This tutorial will guide all levels of Excel users on how to manipulate absolute and relative references in Excel and Mac.
Figure 1: Absolute and Relative Reference in Excel and Google Sheets on Mac
*** To copy down a formula, click on the cell with the formula, at the bottom right, you will see a small box. Take your cursor to the box. Now you will see a + sign. Left-click your mouse and drag down the + sign.
What is a Relative Cell Reference in Excel?
A relative cell reference is Excel is a Cell address without the dollar sign in the row and column as we copy down the formula. As we copy down a formula with a relative cell reference, the cell reference changes based on the rows and columns relative positions.
How to Use Relative Reference in Excel
Figure 2: Relative Cell reference in Excel
As shown in figure 2, the returned result in Cell C4 is for the multiplied values referenced in Cell A4 and Cell B4. The formula looks like this:
Cell D4: =A4*B4
Cell D5: =A5*B5
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Cell D6: =A6*B6
Cell D7: =A7*B7
Cell D8: =A8*B8
What is an Absolute Reference?
An absolute cell reference is Excel is a Cell address with the dollar sign in the row and column as we copy down the formula. As we copy down a formula with an absolute cell reference, the cell reference remains unchanged regardless of the row and/or column.
How to Do Absolute Reference in Excel
Figure 3: Absolute Cell reference in Excel
As shown in figure 3, the returned result in Cell C4 is for the absolute multiplied values referenced in Cell A4 and Cell B4. The formula looks like this when copied down:
Cell D4: =$A$4*$B$4
Cell D5: =$A$4*$B$4
Cell D6: =$A$4*$B$4
Cell D7: =$A$4*$B$4
Cell D8: =$A$4*$B$4
What is Mixed (Cell) Reference?
A mixed cell reference in Excel is a Cell address that has either the column letter or row number fixed. This means that either the column letter or row number is locked or absolute referenced, e.g. in $A1, Column A is locked but row 1 is relative.
Figure 4a: Mixed Cell reference in Excel
As shown in figure 4a, the returned result in Cell C4 is for the multiplied values with a mixed column (Column A) reference in Cell A4 and Cell B4. The formula looks like this when copied down:
Cell D4: =$A4*B4
Cell D5: =$A5*B5
Cell D6: =$A6*B6
Cell D7: =$A7*B7
Cell D8:=$A8*B8
If we add the dollar sign to the row number of Column A, the result will look like this:
Figure 4b: Mixed Cell reference in Excel
As shown in figure 4b, the returned result in Cell C4 is for the multiplied values with a locked reference for Column A and Row 4 in Cell A4 and Cell B4. The formula looks like this when copied down:
Cell D4: =$A$4*B4
Cell D5: =$A$4*B5
Cell D6: =$A$4*B6
Cell D7: =$A$4*B7
Cell D8: =$A$4*B8
In the example below, we will see that although Column B is a relative reference, because Row 4 is locked in the formula, our result is always returned as 4.
Figure 4c: Mixed Cell reference in Excel
The formula in figure 4c remains $A$4*B$4 when copied down.
Shortcut to Switch between Mixed, Absolute and Relative References
- We will select the cell with our formula, e.g. Cell C4 in Figure 2
- We will press the F2 KEY to enter edit mode. We can also double-click the cell
- We will select the Cell reference we want to change
- We will press the F4 KEY to toggle between the four types of cell references.
Note: Pressing the F4 key without selecting any cell reference causes the reference to the left of the mouse pointer to be automatically selected. This results in a change to another reference type.
Shortcut to Switch between Mixed, Absolute and Relative References for Mac
For Mac, we can use the shortcuts below:
⌘T
fn + F4
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