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

How to Format Relative References in Excel. Microsoft Excel relies on two fundamental reference types when addressing other cells. Absolute references -- which are denoted with a "$" -- lock a ...

Is there a way to hold down shift/ctrl, etc to make a cell reference an absolute reference when entering a formula instead of having to go back and enter $?

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.