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.

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

Absolute references provide a fixed reference point whereby the person pulling up the order or invoice can look up and match the value of one cell with another when specific conditions are set.

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 $?

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.

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.