Turn off pop-up errors/alerts in MS Excel 2010

Question

I have a table of results in MS Excel 2010 with formulas in each cell that I need to edit. I have INDIRECT cell references in the formulas that do not update when copied to other cells. So, I believe the easiest way in this case for me to edit all the formulas in the table is with two find-and-replaces (changing the beginning and end of each formula to have what I need). However, when I try to do the find and replace, Excel shoots a "The formula you typed contains an error" pop-up at me and refuses to execute the replace. I know there's an error, I'm not finished with the formula yet! So:

1) How can these errors be disabled?

2) Is there a way to make indirect cell references update the way a normal cell reference would (eg. make INDIRECT("'"&F5&"'!L7") update L7 to L8 in the next row) so that I can copy the new formula throughout the table of results, and avoid the find-and-replace entirely?

Sorry guys, I realize this is a somewhat strange question for stackoverflow.

Answer 1

1) I don't know.

2) I'm not 100% sure from the question, but I can think of two scenarios:-

(a) You have a list of references which your INDIRECT formula uses, and you want it to select each one in turn as you pull the formula down. This is trivial so it's probably not what you meant:-

=INDIRECT(A$1&"!"&A2)

assuming your sheet name is in A1 and the references are in A2,A3 etc.

(b) You have a reference to the beginning of a range of cells in sheet2, and when you pull the INDIRECT formula down, you want it to automatically get the next cell in the range:-

=INDIRECT(SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(1,COLUMN(INDIRECT($A$2)),4,1,$A$1),"1","")
&(ROW(INDIRECT($A$2))+ROW()-ROW($C$2)))

where this formula is placed in cell C2 and pulled down.

The idea is that you break the cell reference down into its column name (using the excellent suggestion here ) and its row number, then get the row number to increment using the ROW function.

Sheet 2:-

Sheet 1:-