Today’s Microsoft Excel tip of the day should be common knowledge. I have been surprised by the number of people who didn’t know how to use an absolute cell reference for a fill. In todays example we want to fill down in the return column however we want to keep the reference to Interest Rates or cell B1 constant. In cell B4 we multiply balance by interest rate and start our fill down.

When we filled down Excel changed our reference from cell B1 to B2. To make Excel use an absolute or constant reference we need to precede the cell and row number with the dollar sign as shown below.

Now that the formula has a constant or absolute reference we can now fill down. The image below shows the output of the downfill.

Pretty basic info I know but if this post helps one person I will be happy.