Hi Mike,

The reason why "cut and paste" causes #REF! errors is because when you cut a cell or range of cells, Excel removes the original cells and their contents from the worksheet. This means that any formulas or references that were pointing to those cells will now be pointing to non-existent cells, resulting in the #REF! error.

In your specific situation, when you cut cells Sheet1!A4:Sheet1!A6 and paste them over Sheet1!A1:Sheet1!A3, the cell references on Sheet2 are now pointing to cells that no longer exist. This is why you are seeing the #REF! error.

When you perform a copy operation followed by a delete, Excel is able to maintain the original cell references because the original cells still exist until you delete them. This is why you are not seeing the #REF! error in this scenario.

To avoid #REF! errors when cutting and pasting cells, you can try using the "Insert Cut Cells" command instead. This command will move the cells down or to the right to make room for the cut cells, rather than simply removing them from the worksheet. This will help to maintain the integrity of any formulas or references that are pointing to the cut cells.

1. Select the cells you want to cut.
2. Right-click on the selection and choose "Cut".
3. Right-click on the cell where you want to insert the cut cells and choose "Insert Cut Cells".
4. Choose the direction you want the cells to be shifted and click "OK".

As for why cut operations are treated differently than copy operations in Excel, it is because cut operations involve the removal of cells from the worksheet, whereas copy operations do not. This fundamental difference in the way the operations work is what causes the different behavior.

Hope this helps!