A cell reference in spreadsheet programs like Excel and Google Sheets identifies the location of a cell in the worksheet. These references use Autofill to adjust and change information in your spreadsheet as needed.
Excel Cell Reference: Absolute, Relative or Mixed?
The three types of references that can be used in Excel and Google Sheets are easily identified by the presence or absence of dollar signs ($) in the cell reference. A dollar sign tells the program to use that value whenever it executes a formula.
You typically use an absolute or mixed cell reference when setting up a formula. For example, if you have a number in cell A1, more numbers in column B, and column C contains the sums of A1 and each of the values in B, you would use "$A$1" in the SUM formula so that when the program autofills, it knows to always use the number in A1 instead of the blank cells below it.
One advantage of using cell references in spreadsheet formulas is that if the data in the referenced cells changes, the formula or chart automatically updates to reflect the change.
