This user's frustration is completely understandable. The challenge here isn't a lack of spreadsheet skill, it's that the tools we've been given for decades were never designed to handle dynamic, shifting data with ease. When you try to build a flexible reference using `INDEX` and `ADDRESS`, you hit a logical wall: `ADDRESS` returns a text string, not a reference that `INDEX` can navigate. The formula breaks, and the user is left wondering if the problem is their approach or the tool itself. It's the tool.
What this user actually needs is a modern approach to dynamic arrays. In an AI-native spreadsheet, you don't need to chain together `ADDRESS` and `INDIRECT` to create a moving target. The solution is to let the spreadsheet manage the shape of the data for you. Functions like `FILTER`, `SORT`, and `CHOOSEROWS` are designed to work with arrays that change size. Instead of hardcoding a range with `ADDRESS`, you can write something like `=INDEX(FILTER(A1:Z100, A1:A100<>""), 5, 3)` and let the filter define the array boundaries automatically. The location and size adapt as your data grows or shrinks, no text-string gymnastics required.
This is more than a workaround; it's a shift in how we think about spreadsheets. The old model treated every cell reference as a fixed coordinate on a static grid. That works for a budget that never changes, but it fails when you're pulling from a live database or a dataset that updates daily. The future of data management is about references that adapt, not formulas that fight the system. The user's instinct to want a flexible array is correct, they just need the right functions to express it.
Our advice is straightforward: stop trying to force `ADDRESS` to behave like a reference. Instead, embrace functions that treat your data as a dynamic object. Start with `FILTER` to define your array, then use `INDEX` to pick what you need. If the array's size changes, your formula adjusts with it. That's the real power of a modern spreadsheet, not a workaround for a legacy limitation, but a direct path to the result you were looking for all along.