To solve this problem in Excel, usually I would just type in the literal row number of the cell above, e.g., if I’m typing in Cell A7, I would use the formula =A6. Then if I copied that formula to other cells, they would also use the row of the previous cell.
Another option is to use Indirect(), which resolves the literal statement inside to be a formula. You could use something like:
=INDIRECT("A" & ROW() - 1)
The above formula will resolve to the value of the cell in column A and the row that is one less than that of the cell which contains the formula.