To expand a bit on the other suggestions....

After you click on a cell to add it to your formula, press F4
immediately after; you do not need to highlight the cell name. This
will change the relative reference to an absolute reference as you
described. (Pressing F4 more than once will step through the various
combinations of absolute and relative references for the row and
column.)

Mark Lincoln

On Sep 27, 1:40 pm, Derek wrote:
Is there a way to have the absolute value be in your excel formula besides
going back into the formula and putting in the $ signs?

I am looking for a way when I type = then click on a cell - say A1 to have
the formula be =$A$1 rather than=A1 and having to edit the formula

Any suggestions - is there a shortcut key for this maybe?