Excel: OFFSET Returns a Reference, Not an Action Command

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 2.x, 3.0, and 4.0
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, and 4.0

Summary:

In Microsoft Excel, the OFFSET macro function returns a reference based on the entered arguments and does not actually perform an action, such as selecting a group of cells. It can, however, be used as an argument in a macro function that does perform a particular action. For example

   =OFFSET(SELECTION(),1,1)

To actually select the offset of a group of cells, use the OFFSET function as the reference argument in the SELECT function. On a worksheet or macro sheet, using the above example

   =SELECT(OFFSET(SELECTION(),1,1))

For more information about OFFSET in Microsoft Excel 4.0, see pages 299-300 in the "Microsoft Excel Function Reference." If you are using Microsoft Excel 3.0, see pages 163-164 in the "Microsoft Excel Function Reference" version 3.0. If you are using Microsoft Excel 2.20, see pages 251-252 in the "Microsoft Excel Functions and Macros" version 2.2.

For more information about SELECT and SELECTION in Microsoft Excel 4.0, see pages 378-381 and 383-384 respectively. If you are using version 3.0, see pages 209-212 and 214, respectively, in the "Microsoft Excel Function Reference," version 3.0. If you are using version 2.2, see pages 274-275 and 278, respectively, in the "Microsoft Excel Functions and Macros," version 2.2.