Skip to main content

How to prevent cell reference in a formula from incrementing /changing in Excel?

For example you have a list of numbers, and you need to calculate each number’s percentage of their total. After typing the formula =A2/SUM(A2:A15) into Cell B2 and then drag Fill Handle down to other cells, the references are incrementing as below screenshots shown. Any idea to prevent cell reference in a formula from incrementing/changing when applying AutoFill in Excel? There are some solutions.


Prevent cell reference from incrementing with changing to absolute reference

To calculate each number’s percentage of their total, you need to keep the totals (SUM(A2:A15)) static in your formula =A2/SUM(A2:A15). You can do as follows:

In the Cell B2, change your formula with adding absolute reference signs “$” to your formula as =A2/SUM($A$2: $A$15), and then drag the Fill Handle down to other cells.

Note: You can click on the reference cell in the Formula Bar, and then press the F4 key to add $ signs to this reference cell in the formula.

Now the absolute reference SUM($A$2: $A$15) is not incrementing when filling down. See screenshot:

Note: If you have many formulas to fill down, you have to change each formula one by one.


Prevent multiple cell references from incrementing with Kutools for Excel

This method will introduce Kutools for Excel’s Convert Refers utility to prevent cell references in many formulas from incrementing easily.

Kutools for Excel - Supercharge Excel with over 300 essential tools. Enjoy a full-featured 30-day FREE trial with no credit card required! Get It Now

1. Select the formula cells whose references you will prevent from incrementing, and click Kutools > Convert Refers.
doc prevent cell reference from incrementing 01

2. In the opening Convert Formula References dialog box, check the To absolute option, and click the Ok button.
doc prevent cell reference from incrementing 02

Then all selected formula cells’ references are changed to absolute reference as below screenshot shown:

3. Select the formula cells, and drag their Fill Handle down to other cells.

So far, in each column formulas return the same value when filling down, because cell reference is static without incrementing. See screenshot:

Kutools for Excel's Convert Refers utility is designed to help Excel users convert cell references of multiple formulas between absolute reference and relative reference with only several clicks.

Kutools for Excel - Supercharge Excel with over 300 essential tools. Enjoy a full-featured 30-day FREE trial with no credit card required! Get It Now


Demo: Prevent multiple cell references from incrementing with Kutools for Excel


Kutools for Excel: Over 300 handy tools at your fingertips! Start your 30-day free trial with no feature limitations today. Download Now!

Best Office Productivity Tools

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup    Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar    Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells    Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...

Description


Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!
Comments (2)
No ratings yet. Be the first to rate!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Muchas gracias, algo simple pero que si no lo sabes, te puede meter en muchos problemas.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Chestia cu apasatul tastei F4 intr-o formula pentru ca relationarea sa nu se incrementeze este fantastica! Multumesc foarte mult!
There are no comments posted here yet
Please leave your comments in English
Posting as Guest
×
Rate this post:
0   Characters
Suggested Locations