

Hence, you will get the following circular reference warning: The cell A5 directly refers to its very own cell, which is wrong.

Basically, it happens when your formula is trying to calculate itself.įor example, you have a column of numbers in cell A1:A4 and you are using the SUM function (=SUM(A1:A5)) in cell A5. When working with Excel, we sometimes encounter circular reference errors which happen when you enter a formula that includes the cell where your formula resides.

How to Find and Handle Circular Reference in Excel Therefore, in this article, we will explain all that you need to know about circular references, and well as how to find, fix, remove, and use circular references in Excel. Unintended circular references in your worksheet might cause your formula to calculate incorrectly. However, there are also intended circular references, which are used to make iterative calculations. Most circular references are unintended mistakes Excel will warn you about these. When the formula =B1+B2 is entered into B2, it creates a circular reference the formula in B2 repeatedly recalculates itself because each time it calculates, the B2 value has changed. Thousands of users have the same problem, and it occurs when a formula references back to its own cell directly or indirectly, causing an endless loop of calculations.įor example, you have two values in cells B1 and B2. One of the most common error warnings users encounter in Excel is the ‘Circular Reference’.
