This article is intended for Excel VBA beginners. Here in this article, I am going to explain to you the use of the Use Relative Reference option in Excel VBA while recording your macro.

My focus in this article would be on explaining you these two different methods which you can use while recording –
1. Use Relative Reference Method
2. Absolute Method

What is Relative Reference Option in Macro Recording

Under the Developer tab in your Excel workbook, you can see there is a toggle option available below the record macro button as shown in the below picture.
To know how to enable Developer tab in your Excel Workbook, click here

Relative Reference in Excel recording

As I mentioned this is a toggle button – if this button is highlighted in a different color – that means it is ON else OFF.

Refer to the below picture, here this button looks highlighted, which means, if you record your macro now, It will be recorded with Relative reference.

Relative Reference On

When Relative Reference is OFF – it is also called Recording in Absolute Mode else it is called Recording with Relative Reference. From this, it is clear that there is not a separate button available for Recording in the absolute method.

Now, let’s have a close look at the code which is recorded in the Absolute method as shown below

Recording Macro with Use Relative Reference – Off

Macro Recording – Absolute Method -Off

Sub AbsoluteMethod()
'
' AbsoluteMethod Macro
' This macro is recorded with -
' Use Relative Reference --> OFF --> Absolute Method
'

'
    Range("C3").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Name"
    Range("D3").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Vishwamitra"
    Range("C4").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Age"
    Range("D4").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "30 Years"
    Range("C5").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Address"
    Range("D5").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Amsterdam"
    Range("C6").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Email Address"
    Range("D6").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "info@learnexcelmacro.com"
    Range("D7").Select
End Sub

In the above-recorded macro you can see that in every cell where values are entered, they are all having the exact address. For example – Range(“C3”), Range(“D3”) etc.

Recording Macro with Use Relative Reference – ON

Sub RelativeReferenceMethod()
'
' RelativeReferenceMethod Macro
' This Macro is recorded with -
' Use Relative Reference --> ON --> Relative Reference Method
'

'
    ActiveCell.Offset(-4, -1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Name"
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Vishwamitra"
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, -1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Age"
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "30 Years"
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, -1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Address"
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Amsterdam"
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, -1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "Email Address"
    ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Select
    ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "info@learnexcelmacro.com"
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Range("A1").Select
End Sub