Referencing cells in a table

When you perform calculations in a table, you reference table cells as A1, A2, B1, B2, and so on, with the letter representing a column and the number representing a row. Cell references in Microsoft Word, unlike those in Microsoft Excel, are always absolute references and are not shown with dollar signs. For example, referring to a cell as A1 in Word is the same as referring to a cell as $A$1 in Excel.

Reference individual cells

To reference cells in formulas, use a comma to separate references to individual cells and a colon to separate the first and last cells in a designated range, as shown in the following examples.

To average these cells:

=average(b:b) or =average(b1:b3)

=average(a1:b2)

=average(a1:c2) or =average(1:1,2:2)

=average(a1,a3,c2)

Reference an entire row or column

You can reference an entire row or column in a calculation in the following ways:

• Use a range that includes only the letter or number that represents it— for example, 1:1 to reference the first row in the table. This designation allows the calculation to automatically include all the cells in the row if you decide to add other cells later.
• Use a range that includes the specific cells— for example, a1:a3 to reference a column with three rows. This designation allows the calculation to include only those particular cells. If you add other cells later and you want the calculation to include them, you need to edit the calculation.

Reference cells in another table

To reference cells in another table, or to reference a cell from outside a table, identify the table with a bookmark. For example, the field { =average(Table2 b:b) } averages column B in the table marked by the bookmark Table2.