How to change/convert absolute reference to relative reference in Excel?

Normally there are several types of cell references you can use in a formula, and each type of cell references can help you achieve different purposes in the formula. You can have the following types of cell references, such as absolute cell reference, relative cell reference, relative row reference absolute column reference and absolute row reference and relative column reference. But sometimes you may need to change the using of the formula purpose by changing the cell references in the formula. The following tricky methods will you tell how to change absolute reference to relative in Excel.

Change absolute reference to relative reference with F4 key

Change absolute reference to relative reference with VBA code

Quickly change absolute reference to relative reference with Kutools for Excel

Absolute Reference

Relative Reference

Change absolute reference to relative reference with F4 key

With the shortcut key F4, we can easily toggle the absolute reference to relative reference, please do as the following steps:

Put the cursor behind $A$1, then press F4 three times, it will become A$1, $A1, A1 successively. See screenshot:

According to this step, put the cursor behind $B$1 to get B1.

And this cell reference will become a relative reference from absolute reference.

If there are multiple formulas’ cell references need to be changed, this way will be tedious and time-consuming.

Change absolute reference to relative reference with VBA code

With VBA code, you can quickly change a range of formulae cell references from absolute references to relative references at a time.

1. Select the range that you want to change.

2. Click Developer > Visual Basic or you can press Alt + F11, a new Microsoft Visual Basic for applications window will be displayed, click Insert > Module, and input the following code into the Module:
VBA: Convert absolute to relative reference.

Sub ConverFormulaReferences()
'Updateby20140603
Dim Rng As Range
Dim WorkRng As Range
Dim xName As Name
Dim xIndex As Integer
On Error Resume Next
xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel"
Set WorkRng = Application.Selection
Set WorkRng = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, WorkRng.Address, Type:=8)
Set WorkRng = WorkRng.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas)
xIndex = Application.InputBox("Change formulas to?" & Chr(13) & Chr(13) _
& "Absolute = 1" & Chr(13) _
& "Row absolute = 2" & Chr(13) _
& "Column absolute = 3" & Chr(13) _
& "Relative = 4", xTitleId, 1, Type:=1)
For Each Rng In WorkRng
    Rng.Formula = Application.ConvertFormula(Rng.Formula, XlReferenceStyle.xlA1, XlReferenceStyle.xlA1, xIndex)
Next
End Sub

3. Then click  button to run the code, and a prompt box will pop out  for selecting a range to convert, then click OK and another dialog displays to prompt you which type you want to use. Then you can choose the right type you need. For this example, I will insert 4. See screenshots:

4. Then click OK. All of the absolute references in selection have been changed to relative references in the formula.

This is a multifunction VBA code, with this code; you can also change relative to absolute reference, change absolute row or change absolute column.

Quickly change absolute reference to relative reference with Kutools for Excel

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Kutools for Excel let you change absolute to relative reference or vice versa quickly and easily. Please do as follows:

Step 1. Go to select the range that contains formulas you want to change cell references in worksheet.

Step 2. Click Kutools > More in the Formula group > Convert Refers. It will display Convert Formula References dialog box.

Step 3. Check To relative and click Ok or Apply in the Convert Formula Reference dialog. It will change the absolute reference to relative reference.

If you would like to change the cell references to column absolute or row absolute, please check To column absolute option or To row absolute option.

For more detailed information about Convert Reference, please visit Convert Reference feature description.

Relative article

Change relative reference to absolute reference