Explaining the difference between relative and absolute references becomes clear when your trainee can see the effects of each type of reference in a simple spreadsheet.

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

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.

Each cell in a worksheet has a unique reference that describes its position – for example A1. In a spreadsheet, there are two types of cell reference – 'relative cell reference' and 'absolute ...

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 $?

Another reader recommended using the F4 function key to toggle between making a cell reference relative and absolute. Either double-click on the cell or press F2 to edit the cell; then hit F4.

Note: If you want an absolute reference (which, in this case, means hard-coding the formula so when/if it’s copied, the range is not altered), press F4 once after each cell reference.