Office X for Macintosh: The Missing Manual

chapter 12: basic excel 463

If you need to change or remove a name, choose Insert→Names→Define to display

the Define Names dialog box. From there, you’ll find it easy to delete, create, or

apply names.

Tip: You can use named cells as a quick way to navigate a large spreadsheet. By naming cells at key points

in the spreadsheet, you can select them from the Name Box pop-up menu and jump to the corresponding

cells.

References: Absolute and relative

When you create a formula by typing the addresses of cells or by clicking a cell,

you’ve created a cell reference. Excel generally considers cell references in a relative

way—it remembers those cell coordinates by position relative to the selected cell,

not as, for example, “B12.” For example, a relative reference thinks of another cell in

the spreadsheet as “three rows above and two columns to the left of this cell” (see

Figure 12-19).

Relative references make it possible for you to insert a new row or column into your

spreadsheet without throwing off all of the formulas you’ve already stored. They

make the Fill Right command possible, too. They also make formulas portable: When

you paste a formula that adds up the two cells above it into a different spot, the

pasted cell adds up the two cells above it (in its new location).

The yearly totals in Figure 12-17 work this way. When you “filled” the Total formula

across to the other cells, Excel pasted relative