How to Copy Formulas in Excel

When setting up a spreadsheet it is useful to be able to copy formulas from one place in the sheet to another. With newer spreadsheets like Excel, the formula may need to be copied to a different page of the workbook. Sometimes the formula needs to refer to different field ranges based on the page that it is on. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

1. Determine what formula is to be copied and to what location it is to be copied. Carefully consider the cells that are to be referenced in the formula and that they are indeed the cells that contain the information to be acted upon by this formula.

2. Highlight a cell that has the formula in it and click the right mouse button. Select the "Copy" option.

3. Move to the new destination cell for this formula, right click the mouse button and select "Paste."

4. Check the first cell to make sure the correct calculation has been performed. If not, check the formula that appears in the cell that contains the result of the formula that was just copied. Make sure that the formula references the correct cells. If not, correct the formula and then copy the corrected formula to the rest of the cells that should have this formula applied to them.

Tips & Warnings

• Some formulas will require references to multiple pages or a workbook. Make sure that the absolute cell address is used for specific numbers and those that are to be applied to subsequent cell addresses are clearly denoted by the use of "$" in the cell address.

Resources

• A site that offers helpful Excel suggestions.