Hi Jan Karel,

Manuy thanks for pointing me in the right direction. And for
Findxlmenufundict. zip.

The dates problem relates to my original query in that both the German
syntax and ttddjj settings stemmed from the regional settings. I have
succeeded in changing these to English, thanks to your tip.

I have now also got the formula to work: The top row entry reads
=SUM(OFFSET($A$1,0,ROW()-1,27,1))
and sums A1:A27. I found it rather odd that the formula looks identical
fthroughout the column, but it works.

In the Help menu I found the syntax
OFFSET(reference,rows,cols,height,width)
and two examples
=OFFSET(C3,2,3,1,1) Displays the value in cell F5 (0)
=SUM(OFFSET(C3:E5,-1,0,3,3)) Sums the range C2:E4 (0)

But nowhere could I find what ROW() signifies.

Does $A$1,0,ROW(),represents A1 with no row offset- the zero value- and a
column offset of ROW()-1?
If this is equal to 0, am I right in assuming that ROW() has the same value
as the row that it is placed in, i.e. 1 in row 1, 2 in row 2 etc ?

Many thanks for your patience and help.

Roger PB