This error can mean a number of things, depending on the formula. The formula is trying to divide a value by zero or an empty cell. Always take care of the warning and check that circular reference is enabled.
(ii) When we open the file again after saving then it also shows the warning message that one or more formula contains a circular reference. Note: (i) In many cases, when entering more than one formula with a circular reference, Excel doesn’t display the warning message repeatedly. In detail, the formula in cell B7 directly refers to the cell D7 which indirectly refers to its own cell, i.e., B7 (through the VLOOKUP function). If we want to replace the New Project ID (i.e., the value of column D) on the Old Project ID (i.e., on column B) using the cell reference (with the equality ‘=’ sign), it creates a circular reference and Excel returns a 0 (zero) value. The VLOOKUP function is applied in column D, just beside the main database.Īs a result, ‘ New Project ID’ has been mapped against the ‘ Old Project ID’ in column D. So in that case, we commonly apply the VLOOKUP function to retrieve the exact match value. In the given example, we want to retrieve the data from ‘ Revised Project ID’ to our ‘ Main database’. When a formula in a cell indirectly refers to its own cell is called an indirect circular reference. WHAT IS AN INDIRECT CIRCULAR REFERENCE IN EXCEL?
