Convert Currency With a Fixed Exchange Rate

Excel & Google Sheets

How it works

Put the exchange rate in a single cell — say 0.85 USD→EUR in E1 — and multiply each amount by it: 200 × 0.85 = 170. The dollar signs are what make it work at scale: $E$1 is an absolute reference, so when you copy the formula down the column, A2 becomes A3, A4, … while the rate stays locked on E1. Every row uses the same rate, and when the rate changes you edit one cell and the whole column updates. Without the anchors, the copied formulas slide onto E2, E3 — empty cells — and quietly multiply everything by zero.

A2

The amount in the source currency — moves down as you copy.

*$E$1

Times the rate cell. The $ signs lock both column and row so every copy points at E1.

When to use it

Use it for expense reports in a foreign currency, multi-currency price lists, invoices for overseas clients, or consolidating regional budgets into one reporting currency.

Common mistakes

• ✕Forgetting the $ anchors on the rate cell.

  ✓=A2*E1 copied down becomes =A3*E2, =A4*E3 — empty cells, so every row after the first shows 0. Anchor it: =A2*$E$1.

• ✕Multiplying when you should divide.

  ✓A rate quoted as EUR→USD (1.18) converts the wrong way if you multiply USD amounts by it. Either divide, or store the inverse rate and keep multiplying.

• ✕Hardcoding the rate inside every formula.

  ✓=A2*0.85 scattered down a column means editing every cell when the rate moves. Keep the rate in one referenced cell so one edit updates everything.