Absolute, Relative and Partial Relative Cell References

[BobH]

Absolute=Reference is to a specific cell; both column and row values are prefixed by "$", e.g."$A$8" refers to cell in the 8th row of column A and to no other

Relative=Reference is to a cell relative to the location of where it is entered; neither column or row is prefixed

Partial Relative=Reference is relative to a particular column or row depending on whether the row or column, respectively, is prefixed with a "$", e.g. "$A8" makes the column "A" absolute but the row is relative; "A$8" makes the column relative to the current column but the row is absolute, row 8

How am I doing so far?

I seem to recall that there is a function key that allows the user to change the prefix of the row and column by adding or removing the "$". When I searched for this information on the Web, I found that F4 is supposed to do that; however it does not do so on my system using the US keyboard setting. Is F4 the correct key? If so, what should I look for to determine why it doesn't work? Could it be a system setting, or do I have a bad keyboard? I've not run into any function key problems in other applications, but I don't really use them a lot either.

TIA

[HansV]

Your description of absolute/relative references is correct!

And F4 is indeed the function key to use. Select a cell reference within a formula. To take a simple example:

=2*A8+13

Either click in the formula bar and select A8, or press F2 to edit the formula in the cell itself and select A8. The cell reference will be highlighted.
Pressing F4 toggles A8 -> $A$8 -> A$8 -> $A8 -> A8

[BobH]

Thank you, Hans.

I tried it but with the same result. I suspect that the keyboard is at fault but cannot think of any way to check to affirm or refute the suspicion.

Can you suggest a way to test the keyboard?

[HansV]

Start any application, e.g. Notepad (or Excel, for that matter).
Alt+F4 should close the application (after asking to save changes, if necessary). If it doesn't, the F4 key may be faulty.

[BobH]

I opened Notepad and gave the Alt+F4 a try. The only thing that happened was that the File menu option was highlighted, but it did not open the drop down list.

Guess I will give this old keyboard a thorough going over with compressed air to see if it will help. If not, I think I'll take it apart, a la Chris Greaves, to see if I can learn anything or add to my stash of strange parts before buying another.

Again, Thank you Hans!

[Rudi]

Your description of absolute/relative references is correct!

Bob, Han's meant to say, "you are absolutely right, relatively speaking!"

What you call "partial" referencing, I cal "mixed" references.

Now your next lesson is to switch Excel to the R1C1 notation and learn the syntax for aboslute and relative referencing in that style.