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Excel: best practices for Circular Reference Warning When Using OFFSET with SUM in Office 365

👀 Views: 56 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-05
excel offset sum circular-reference Excel

I'm learning this framework and I'm dealing with I'm performance testing and I tried several approaches but none seem to work..... I'm stuck on something that should probably be simple... I'm working with a circular reference warning in Excel 365 when trying to calculate a sum based on a dynamic range using the `OFFSET` function. My goal is to sum values in a column, but I want to exclude the last entry to prevent including the current formula cell, which is located in the same column. My formula looks like this: ```excel =SUM(OFFSET(A1, 0, 0, COUNTA(A:A)-1, 1)) ``` This formula works fine, but it triggers a circular reference warning indicating that the formula is trying to reference itself. The warning appears even though I'm excluding the last data point. I’ve tried adjusting the dynamic range by referencing a specific endpoint instead, but the warning continues. I attempted to encapsulate the `OFFSET` function in an `IF` statement to check if the current cell is the last cell being summed: ```excel =IF(ROW() = COUNTA(A:A), "", SUM(OFFSET(A1, 0, 0, COUNTA(A:A)-1, 1))) ``` However, this still gives me the same warning, and I end up with an empty string instead of the expected sum. I even checked for any hidden rows or columns that could be causing the scenario, but everything seems fine. Is there a better way to achieve this sum without triggering a circular reference? Any insights or alternative approaches would be greatly appreciated! For context: I'm using Excel on macOS. For context: I'm using Excel on Ubuntu. Thanks in advance! I'm working on a REST API that needs to handle this. I'm open to any suggestions. Is this even possible?