Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Cell Address of a Maximum Value.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 4, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Barry has a worksheet with 65,000 rows. They are unsorted and must remain unsorted. He can use the MAX function on the column and get the maximum value in that column. However, he also wants to know the address of the first cell in the column that contains this maximum value.
There are a number of ways that you can determine the address of the maximum value. One way is to use the ADDRESS function in conjunction with the MAX function, in the following manner:
=ADDRESS(MATCH(MAX(A:A),A:A,0),1,4)
The MATCH function is used to find where in the range (column A) the maximum value resides, and then the ADDRESS function returns the address of that location. A shorter version of the macro leaves off the ADDRESS function, instead being "hardwired" to return an address in column A:
="A"&MATCH(MAX(A:A),A:A,0)
Still another way to get the desired address is with a formula such as this:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here:
=CELL("ADDRESS",INDEX(A:A,MATCH(MAX(A:A),A:A,0)))
This formula uses the CELL function, in conjunction with INDEX, to return the address of the cell that matches the maximum value in the column.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3818) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Cell Address of a Maximum Value.
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