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Hiya! Thanks for the tag @Paul Newcome, happy to help clarify.

The total count of cells referenced by formulas in a sheet cannot exceed 25 million. This includes cross-sheet references, in-sheet cell references, column references, and range references. However, only cells that contain formulas are counted towards the limit.

Here's an example of how to calculate the total referred cells:

• If a single formula refers to 10 columns containing formulas on a sheet with 10,000 rows, then that one formula is referencing 100,000 cells (10 columns x 10,000 rows = 100,000 cells).
• If that formula exists in 100 different cells, then the total referred cells is 10,000,000 (100,000 referred cells * 100 formulas = 10 million)

As another example, the 25,000,000 limit can be reached with only two columns in a sheet that has 5,000 rows:

• Column 1 has a column formula populating all 5,000 rows with the value "Hello"
• Column 2 also has a column formula, in this example: =COUNTIF([Column1]:[Column1], "Hello")

Adding this formula in Column 2 will result in the error being produced, because all 5,000 rows in Column 2 are referencing all 5,000 rows in Column 1, which is populated via a formula. 5,000 x 5,000 = 25,000,000, resulting in the limit being reached.

I hope this helps!
Genevieve