Comments on: Excel: If cell contains formula examples

One of the most common tasks in Excel is checking whether a cell contains a value of interest. What kind of value can that be? Just any text or number, specific text, or any value at all (not empty cell). Continue reading →

Comments page 3. Total comments: 244

  1. I am working on a running document. I am attempting to create a formula that will subtract from two cells IF text or a number is present in a different cell. For example if text or a number is present in V3 or U3, then perform E3-D3. My formula looks like:

    =if(istext(V3,U3),E3-D3)

    But it does not work.

    Any ideas?

  2. Hello, I need a help in "improv"ing a formula.

    I have something like this in an if: IF(OR(C13="Closed",C13="Dropped",C13="Suspended"), ##DoThis##, ##DoThat## )

    Can I rewrite it in a manner where I need to type C13 only once? like..
    IF(SOMEFUNCTION(C13,"Closed","Dropped","Suspended"), ##DoThis##, ##DoThat## )

    Reason being, there may be another string that might have to be checked for C13, and I am too lazy to type in C13 again ! :)

    I am aware that I can probably write it like:
    IF(ISNUMBER(FIND(C13,"Closed"&Dropped"&"Suspended")), ##DoThis##, ##DoThat## )
    But, is this the only option?

    Thank you very much.

    1. Hello!
      Instead of a formula
      OR(C13="Closed",C13="Dropped",C13="Suspended")
      use
      OR(C13={"Closed","Dropped","Suspended"})

  3. Hello,

    I am trying to add this function; where a particular range of numbers results in a specific text response
    for example:

    scores in one column within the following ranges (98) will result the following descriptors in the adjacent column (exceptionally low, below average, low average, average, high average, above average, exceptionally high).

    how do i write out a command?

      1. Excellent!
        Thank you!!

  4. Hi,

    Please help provide the formula if a range of cells contain the letters BR, then I would like the sum of another range of cells of just containing BR to return the value, thank you.

    1. Hello!
      To find the sum of the cells by condition, try using the SUMIF function. I hope it’ll be helpful. If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

      1. Exactly what I needed thank you!

  5. Hi Alexander,

    I'm currently using the below formula to extract/filter out data from a master sheet to another sheet, however this gives blank cells/rows in between which I don't want. I tried adding VLOOKUP to the formula but unsuccessful (still noob at using LOOKUP).

    =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH($I$8,Master!H10)),Master!H10,"")

    May I seek your help on how to edit the formula, so that I can have a list of results without blank cells/rows in between please?

    Thanks in advance!

  6. I have a text string including multiple words and I would like the return value to be different for each IF. For example Statement=send letter with word USD and CAD.If the string includes USD then abbreviate US and if CAD is found then abbreviate CA.

  7. =IF(ISLBANK(P5),(ISNUMBER(P5), "Done", "Pending"))

    I have alredy applied this formula in A5 Cell. So my A5 row is now fill with this formula value. But when my B5 cell value is blank, Then I need to blank also my A5 Cell. How can I applied that with this formula?

  8. HI! I am wondering if you guys can help.. Doing some report for my team
    Conditions if scores are from 6.42-7.41 = 5 Coins... if 7.42 - 8;49, 10 coins and if 8.50 - 300, 15 coins.. I used

    B22 = 5
    B23 = 10
    B24 = 15

    =IF(C3>=6.42,$B$22,IF(C3>=7.42,$B$23,IF(C3>=8.5,$B$24,)))

    C3 is 25.53 but result still is 5. Should be 15. Not sure if there's a mistake with my formula. Thank you.

  9. If cell G4 contains wording Baseline

    Cell H19 mustn't add 5% (Costing)

    If cell G4 contains wording Project

    Cell H19 must add 5% (Costing)

  10. Need formula in Col B. eg. if B2 contains state listed in D2:D8 & Name of that state should be automatically added there.

    | | | |
    | A | B | C |
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | | | |
    | | | |
    | Address | States | Total States |
    | | | |
    | | | |
    | Los Angeles, California, United States, 91311 | California | California |
    | | | |
    | Santa Clarita, California, United States, 91355-5078 | California | Florida |
    | | | |
    | Saint Petersburg, Florida, United States, 33701 | Florida | Texas |
    | | | |
    | Walnut Creek, California, United States, 94596-4410 | California | XYZ |
    | | | |
    | Roseville, California, United States, 95661 | California | XYZ1 |
    | | | |
    | Lake Forest, California, United States, 92630-8870 | California | XYZ2 |
    | | | |
    | Houston, Texas, United States, 92660 | Texas | XYZ3 |

    1. Hi!
      Sorry, I do not fully understand the task.
      Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. What result do you want to get?

  11. Please advise a number check formula that will yield "if lesser then" in a string scenario (dimensions in a cell) to find out if any of the numbers in their position are lesser then 5.

    Cell Example: 11 x 3 x 4

    Cell Formula Result: false true true

    1. Hello!
      To extract all numbers from text, use a user-defined function RegExpExtract. You can find the examples and detailed instructions here: How to extract substrings in Excel using regular expressions (Regex).

      =TEXTJOIN(" ",,(--RegExpExtract(A5,"\d+") < 5))

      To combine results in a single cell with a delimiter, use the TEXTJOIN function.
      You can also extract all numbers from text using Extract text tool. It is available as a part of our Ultimate Suite for Excel that you can install in a trial mode and check how it works for free.

  12. Hi Dear,

    I have an excel file where a cell can contain 2 languages (Arabic and English). Is there a way to highlight which of these cells in the sheet have 2 languages. Also, is there a way to further determine if the English language (word) starts at the beginning of the sentence.

    The problem is that we are working on a project to create an app, some sentences should include popular english words followed by arabic words. But whenever the sentence start with english, a problem appears in our user interface. That's why I need to determine which sentences in the cell start with and English word.

    Thank you!

    1. Hello!
      You can determine the ANSI code of the first character in a text. The ASCII value of the lowercase alphabet is from 97 to 122. And, the ASCII value of the uppercase alphabet is from 65 to 90. To do this, use the CODE function.

      =CODE(LEFT(A1,1))

      See CODE function example here.
      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

      1. Thank you so much Alexander. This helped me a lot!

  13. Hi, need help with a formula, please:

    If cell contains certain text, put a value in another cell: So that would be =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Sub",A2)),"Approve","")

    But, I would like to use such a formula to look for "Sub" in a range of cells, for example, A2:F2 (1st case scenario), and then in a different instance, to look for "Sub" in a group of cells - A2, C2, D2 and G2 (2nd case scenario).

    Thank you very much in advance.

    Stan

      1. Kind greetings and thank you very much for your kind help / response. I tried the equation that you helped provide above but it still provides a blank response, even when one of the cells contains "Sub".
        In this case, I'm trying to approve the the row #3 because one of the cells from C3 to G3, in this case E3, contains the string "Sub".
        A B C D E F G H
        1 Alt ID Plans CovA CovB CovC CovD CovE Approval
        2 101020 Pol3 Plan11 Coord2e
        3 907030 Pol Sub5a Alt24
        4 805050
        5 778050 Plan88 Sub7d Coord2
        6 232520 Sub4 ALt4 Plan6
        7 357031 Plan2d Sub7e

        So, I used =IF(SUM(--ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Sub",C3:G3))),"Approve","") but it still gives a blank response.

        Thank you again, in advance.

        Stan

        1. Hi, thank you very much for your kind help. I read one of your blogs on Excel ISNUMBER function with formula examples, under conditioning with SUMPRODUCT and it helped.

          The equation I'm using now is =IF(SUMPRODUCT(--ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Sub",C3:G3))),"Approve","") and it is helping with what I needed to do.

          Again, your very kind help is much appreciated.

          1. Hello!
            You didn't specify this, but I'm assuming you're working with Excel 2019 or 2016. The formula returns an array that needs to be summed. In Excel 365, you do not need to do this.

            1. Sorry about that; and yes, I'm working with Excel 2019.

              Again, I thank you.

              Best regards,

              Stan

  14. Hi Alexander,

    I am new to extended formulas. I usually manage with Vlook Up and Pivots. I am trying to show value of cell B2 in cell C2, if Text in Cell A2 is specific and if not, then value in Cell C2 must reflect "0" / zero. Likewise, for Row no.s 3, 4, 5, ....

    Eg., A2 value is "Opening Balance", B2 value is "100" then C2 must reflect the value of Cell B2 i.e., "100". But if A2 value is NOT "Opening Balance" then C2 must reflect "0" / zero in numerical value. Please help me.

    A B C D E F
    Transactions Amount Opening Balance Invoice Debit Note Receipt
    1 Opening Balance 100.00 100.00 0 0 0
    2 Invoice 248.00 0 248.00 0 0
    3 Debit Note 10.00 0 0 10.00 0
    4 Receipt 238.00 0 0 0 238.00

    Thanks,
    Anand

    1. Hello!
      For your task, you can use the IF function.

      IF(A2="Opening Balance", B2, 0)

      If the suggested formula doesn't work for your case, feel free to describe it in detail.

  15. Great information. Is it possible to put a formula in a cell that tests a different cell and places text in a 3rd cell ?
    Example: Formula is in cell E1, testing cell A1 is equal to "Test", setting cell B1 equal to "Yes"
    Cell B1 has other text in it until cell A1 has been changed to "Test" manually.
    If, Then , Else structure but being able to specify the cells for the then and Else output.
    I used this structure but can not specify a target cell
    Cell B1 is =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Test,A1)),"Yes","No") will set B1 to Yes or No
    but wish to add target cells for results:
    Formula is in cell E1 =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Test,A1)),("Yes",B1),("No",C1)) Target cells are B1 and C1
    I know how to do it in Macro but then need to run the macro. I wanted it to happen without running or adding macro.
    Thanks,
    Vin

    1. Hi!
      It has already been written many times in this blog that an Excel formula can only change the value of the cell in which it is written. For all other tasks, use VBA.

  16. Hello, I would like to seek help. If a cell has a text value: then perform another formula else blank

  17. I know how to count a series of keywords in Excel. I use this formula: =SUMPRODUCT(--ISNUMBER(SEARCH($CE$2:$CE$43,(G2:AP2))))

    However, what would be the Excel formula if I want to count the number of keywords that exist only within +/-3 words around "risk" in the selected rows?

    Consider this sentence: "Political uncertainty generates economic risk which stagnates economic activities." If my keywords are "political", "uncertainty", "stagnates", and economic", the total number of keywords within +/- 3 words around "risk" will be 3, i.e., "uncertainty", "stagnates", and "economic". "political" will be excluded since it is out of range.

  18. IF the cell contains numbers and characters and without numbers , how can i filter only character cells please help me

  19. this function selected another word that we don't need because the two (alphabet) first of this word are the same (ALbendazole and ALcid) any suggestions pls?

    1. Hi!
      I can't guess which formula and which values you are using. Please describe it in detail and I will try to help.

  20. Please help to write a formula for the below

    If I update the formula in I2 cell to =IF(SEARCH("HOSB",H2),"PO",""), the result is coming correctly, but if I change it to =IF(SEARCH("HOSB",H2),"PO",IF(SEARCH("HONB",H2),"Non PO",IF(SEARCH("HOCB",H2),"Contract", IF(SEARCH("HORB",H2),"Retention","")))) I am getting an error stating #VALUE!

    1. Hello!
      If the text is not found in the cell, the SEARCH function will return an error. Add an ISNUMBER function to your formula. In case of a successful search, it will return TRUE, in case the text is not found, it will return FALSE.

      =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("HOSB",H2)),"PO", IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("HONB",H2)),"Non PO", IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("HOCB",H2)),"Contract", IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("HORB",H2)),"Retention",""))))

      1. hi,

        I intend to use this formula and I got a comment "This formulate use more level of nesting than you can use in the current file formate." How to fix this formula?

        =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH($M$4,I7)),$N$4,IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH($M$5,I7)),$N$5,IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH($M$6,I7)),$N$6,IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH($M$7,I7)),$N$7,IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH($M$8,I7)),$N$8,IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH($M$9,I7)),$N$9,IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("ELECTRICITY",I7)),$N$10))))))

  21. Hi,

    Kindly help please
    A have a row for the report headers and below it a a row that says it is Mandatory or optional.
    How so i check if the mandatory columns have value?

    Thank you.

      1. Hi! Thanks for the response.
        But how do i make it dependent on the mandatory/optional row?

        For example if the following column headers are the following: name, address,mobile,birthday.( last column is the checking, row complete?)

        And then on the row below , all the fields are mandatory except for the birthday.
        * row complete value should be TRUE if the mandatory cells are populated.

        Thank you!

          1. Hi,

            Thanks.

            It would somehow look like this.
            But i dont get how will the code be dependent on the second row. (By checking “Mandatory “)

            Name Address Birthday Mobile Row complete?
            Mandatory Mandatory Optional Mandatory
            James ABC street 8171777 True
            Alice Aaa streeat 10/10/1970 81666 True

              1. Hi, the problem is that i need to check for row 2 as well( mandatory optional)
                Starting from row 3( i need to check if there are blank values from the cells tagged as mandatory)

                I actually have around 20 headers ( lets say from a1 to t1) and from a2 to t2 it says mandatory or optional.

  22. Hello,
    I am trying to use a formula on a sheet with roughly 7900 rows that are constantly being added on to. I have part numbers/model numbers of different styles from different departments. Ones that are in the format of ###AAAAA* (3 numbers followed by letters of various lengths) to show in the column "1" as "INDST". I would also like the part numbers that are ####-###* (4 numbers followed by a dash and more numbers of various lengths) to show in column "1" as AERO. If the part numbers do not fit these requirements, I would like them to show as "ASSY"

    Additionally,
    A separate situation I Have is that there are (4) Statuses that I Have in Column "2" they are complete, Firm, Released, Stopped. I would like to have them all on the original sheet as well as separate sheets for each "Status".

    Finally,
    I Have due dates in Column "3" that I would like to change color from "Green" if the date has not passed, to "Red" if they are late, and I would like them to retain their color, but not update again if the job is in the "Complete", "Status" for record keeping later on.

    If there is a way that I can have this continue to update when new information is added/Changed, since each day rows are added and some change statuses from "released" to "complete" or another "Status". I have basic knowledge of VBA, but not with a Data Dump of this size each day. I know there is a lot here, I would appreciate any and all help on this one as I am new to this job and am working with unfamiliar with these part numbers. I have included a small part of the data below and have started to manually put in Dpmt. names

    Dpmt. / Status / Due Date / last transaction / Job Date / Job / item

    INDST Complete 1/12/2021 4/12/2021 E291200-03 316BSZ-A213
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 6/25/2021 E291204-01 7200-8739-RM
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 7/19/2021 E291204-02 7200-8739-SZ
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 6/8/2021 E291204-03 7720-8740-RH
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 6/8/2021 E291204-04 7720-8740-RM
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 6/24/2021 E291205-01 7200-8741-RM
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 6/23/2021 E291205-02 7200-8741-SZ
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 6/10/2021 E291205-03 7720-8742-RH
    AERO Complete 2/3/2021 6/10/2021 E291205-04 7720-8742-RM
    INDST Complete 1/14/2021 3/18/2021 E291210-02 311BRK7-A335
    DIGI Complete 1/14/2021 3/30/2021 E291210-03 340CRF6-A392
    INDST Complete 1/18/2021 3/31/2021 E291213-01 317BRH7CAFNGJ
    DIGI Complete 1/19/2021 4/6/2021 E291220-01 240CUQ6-A461
    CABLE Complete 2/1/2021 4/6/2021 E291220-03 MEC-CA
    Complete 1/15/2021 3/30/2021 E291224-01 241DRX7CAFJGJ
    Complete 1/15/2021 3/25/2021 E291226-01 340CPP2CAFK
    Complete 1/15/2021 3/31/2021 E291226-02 340CSZ3CAFK

    1. Hello!
      To automatically populate column 1 based on part numbers, you can use regular expressions. The formula will be something like this:

      =IF(RegExpMatch(F1,"\d{3}[A-Z]"),"INDST",IF(RegExpMatch(F1,"\b\d{4}-\d"),"AERO","ASSY"))

      You can find the examples and detailed instructions here: Excel Regex: match strings using regular expressions.
      I also think this article will be useful: Excel conditional formatting for dates & time.
      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  23. I want to use the IF function where the logical test references a cell/column that looks up a value on a separate spreadsheet. The logical test returns the value in the cell (which is the simple lookup formula) rather than returning the value that is looked up. How do I solve for this?

    1. Hi!
      Sorry, I do not fully understand the task.
      The value in a cell that is looking for a value in another table is the value being looked up. Describe an example of what you want to do.

  24. Hi Alexander,

    I been going crazy trying to get this formula, if you could help me that me very appreciated.
    What I am trying to do is

    (b1+b2)/2 if b1 or b2 aren't entered don't divide just give me the number that was entered in b1 or b2

    Thank you in advance

      1. Hi Alexander,

        Thank you so much for your help it help

  25. Hi,

    I need to find a formula where the number is contained within text in a different cell. For example:

    Column A Column D

    21 Address 21 London Road London

    There are 2253 numbers which I need to find within 4955 cells, please help!

    Many Thanks

      1. Hi,
        The only issue is this is only taking it from the first column, I would like it to look in the whole of column D to find the matching one?

        Many Thanks

        1. Hi!
          Copy the formula for each cell you want to extract numbers from. It is impossible to do this with a single Excel formula. If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

  26. I am trying to write a formula that allows me to do the following:

    Column I has either USD or CDN dollars,

    If I has USD then take Colum G Total price and times it by currency rate listed in T2 or the rate 1.20

    1. Hi!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IF(I1="USD",G1*T2,G1)

      1. Thank you so much, that worked. So kind of you.

      2. That was perfect - thank you so much I tried over 8 different variances of IF / OR and AND trying to get this to work. Your the kindest, thank you.

  27. Greetings, I’m trying to do the same as Cecile and Rasit, add some categories to my checking account info.
    I have one table named “Raw” that contains the raw data from my checking account. On a second tab (in the same file), I created another table named “IDtranslate”. I want to search for key words in the Raw Description and bring back a Short Description as a new column in my Raw table.

    This formula seems really close to what I need:

    =IF(SUMPRODUCT(
    --ISNUMBER(SEARCH(IDtranslate[search text],[@Description],1)))=0,
    [@Description],
    "found")

    Keep an eye on that value-if-false, “found” because that is the problem. The formula is in the “Short Description” column of my Raw table.

    Here is a sample of my Raw table (I think if you copy and paste into a blank Excel table, it will parse itself out correctly):

    Description Short Description
    Withdrawal POS #759507, MEMO: LOWE'S #2681 630 W NFIELD DR BROWNSBURGCard found
    Withdrawal POS #8886, MEMO: Wal-Mart Super Center 2786 WAL-SAMS AVONINCard found
    Withdrawal Debit Card MASTERCARD DEBIT, MEMO: SUN CLEANERS AVON INDate 12/18/21 Withdrawal Debit Card MASTERCARD DEBIT, MEMO: SUN CLEANERS AVON INDate 12/18/21
    Withdrawal Transfer To Loan 0001 found
    Withdrawal ACH VONAGE AMERICA, MEMO: ID: CO: VONAGE AMERICAEntry Class Code: WEBACH Trace Number: Withdrawal ACH VONAGE AMERICA, MEMO: ID: CO: VONAGE AMERICAEntry Class Code: WEBACH Trace Number:
    Withdrawal ACH BRIGHT HOUSE NET, MEMO: ID: CO: BRIGHT HOUSE NETEntry Class Code: TELACH Trace Number: found
    Withdrawal Bill Payment #91, MEMO: AMAZON.COM3 SEATTLE WACard 5967 found
    Withdrawal Debit Card MASTERCARD DEBIT, MEMO: ALDI 4405 AVON INDate 12/19/21 found

    Here is a sample of my IDtranslate table:

    search text ID category
    aldi Aldi grocery
    amazon Amazon Amazon
    amica Amica insurance
    bright house Bright House utilities
    loan 0001 car loan car loan
    lowe's Lowe's Home maint and improve
    meijer Meijer grocery
    mnrd Menards Home maint and improve
    panda express Panda Express restaurant
    paypal PayPal PayPal
    vectren Vectren utilities
    wal-m Wal-Mart grocery

    What I want to do is replace the “found” term in my formula with the correct value from the “ID” column of my IDtranslate table. The very first line in the Raw table where the “search text” lowe’s was correctly found needs to bring back “Lowe’s” from the ID column.

    I’ve tried replacing the “found” term with variations on IDtranslate[ID] (with and without @ tossed in there), but I keep getting spills or other errors.

    If I can get that Short Description formula to work, then adding a category column to my Raw table with a vlookup will be easy.

    Thoughts?

    1. Hello!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IFERROR(INDEX(E2:E12,MATCH(1,--ISNUMBER(SEARCH(D2:D12,A2)),0)),"")

      Column E - ID
      Column D - search text
      Column A - Description
      Hope this is what you need.

      1. Yes!!! That works. I'm glad to see you used MATCH. I had played with SWITCH a little bit but I failed at that. Makes feel like I sort of had the right idea!

  28. I am using excel to convert manual testing scenario sheets to automated xml files to test the Covid vaccine schedule and ensure our vaccine forecaster is functioning properly with the new rules. I need to find out if a formula within a cell is calling the DOB or the date of the last vaccine for the forecast and then use that to fill in the test description so I can more easily spot patterns in what causes unexpected forecasting returns. Basically I need a formula that says IF the formula in GN2 (earliest forecast date) contains a reference to E2 (DOB) then True else false. Is there anything that can do that for me?

    1. Hello!
      I recommend using the FORMULATEXT function. It will extract the formula from the desired cell and write it down as text. Then apply the SEARCH function

      =ISNUMBER(SEARCH("E2",FORMULATEXT(F5)))

      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  29. Hello,
    I am trying to figure out a formula that will tell me if one cell partially contains the same info as another cell.
    Example:
    If A2 has "PleaseHelpMe" and B2 has "Please"
    I want a formula that will do the following IF A2 contains B2 = "yes" or "no"

    Hopefully that makes sense.

      1. Alexander,
        You are awesome! Thank you, this will help out tremendously on a project I am working on.

  30. Hello! I have a large spreadsheet (300k rows) with clients details, unfortunately the data is from a form where people were simply asked to enter their City & Country. So they may have entered Christchurch NZ, or Auckland New Zealand, or Los Angeles USA etc etc

    We now wish to be able to add a new column that specifies the country ONLY for each client.

    What is the best approach for this?

    Ideally we would like to be able to have one formula that can search for multiple countries, so for example, if cell A2 contains "NZ" OR "New Zealand" the value in the new column shows as = New Zealand, if the A2 contains "United States" or "US" or "USA" or "America" the value in the new column shows as = USA. everything I have tried so far says it is too long, so I assume I need to work out how to use Vlookup? Is this what it will do!?

    Obviously there is a huge array of possibilities, is it possible to have SO many variables? Thank you!

    1. Hello!
      You will be looking for a piece of text in a cell. Therefore VLOOKUP cannot be used here.
      Try this formula:

      =INDEX(F1:F30,MATCH(TRUE,ISNUMBER(SEARCH(E1:E30,A1,1)),0))

      Column F - correct country names (e.g. New Zeland)
      Column E - arbitrary country names (e.g. NZ)
      Column A is your data (e.g. Christchurch NZ).
      I hope I answered your question. If something is still unclear, please feel free to ask.

      1. Thank you. your formula assisted me in resolving my pain area.

  31. I have a chart with 2 columns, 1 column - Month 2nd column - Amounts
    how do I create a formula that pulls out or subtract out the amounts for a certain month.
    EXAMPLE: February amount needs to be subtracted from Jan, Mar, April.

    January 150
    February 200
    March 500
    April 2000

    I know to sum up everything and then subtract, but I don't know how to create the formula to do this on its own.

    1. Hello!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =SUM(B1:B4)-B2

      If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

  32. Hello,
    I would like to match 3 cells in two separate tabs (same file), cells A (tab 1), and cells B & C (tab 2).
    Cells A & C are a string of words. Cell B is one word.
    If one of the words in cell C is found in cell A, then the formula returns cell B.
    I'm going through a bank statement and doing some budgeting based on categories I've created.
    For example:
    1/ Tab 2: Category "Utilities" (cell B) = Water, Council, BT (cell C)
    2/ Tab 1 (bank statement) (cell A): DIRECT DEBIT PAYMENT TO WATER REF 400000214, MANDATE NO 0125

    I haven't been able to work out the formula to use to bring back the value of cell B in a new column added to the statement (tab 1).
    Might you be able to help please?

    Many thanks,
    Cecile

      1. Hi Alexander,

        Thanks for your feedback. I was hoping for a shortcut, never mind!
        Once I've split the text, shall I then use the following formula:
        =IF(SUMPRODUCT(--ISNUMBER(SEARCH(Tab2CAtegoryList!$a$2:$a10,Tab1Statement!C2))),"categoryName1","No")

        Thanks,
        Cecile

        1. Hello!
          Yes, you can use something like this.
          IFS function can be used to choose from several categories

          =IFS(SUMPRODUCT(–ISNUMBER(SEARCH(Tab2CAtegoryList!$a$2:$a10,Tab1Statement!C2))),"categoryName1", SUMPRODUCT(–ISNUMBER(SEARCH(Tab2CAtegoryList!$b$2:$b10,Tab1Statement!C2))),"categoryName2")

  33. Hello

    I have an incident where Students are graded in a subject per week from week one to week 16. where each week is in its own column from Column B to Column P. where I grade each student with words "Passed" and "Excelled". I'm crediting their overall performance in another sheet which fetches from my primary sheet and I would like help with an excel function that searches for a word "excelled" in any week from week one to 16 and returns "promoted" if it finds the word "excelled" any where. Thanks!

    1. Hello!
      To search for values in the desired line, I recommend using such a formula:

      =SUMPRODUCT(--(A2:A20=N1)*(B2:P20= "Excelled"))

      N1 - name.
      If the formula returns the number more than 0, then the desired word is found for this student.
      I hope it’ll be helpful.

  34. in excel want a cell contains formula should remain as it is if changes made manually in the same cell.

    for example Customer A 50 (formulated cell)
    Manual changes done is the count cell as 40
    If I selecect customer B from drop down the formulated cell should remain same

    Is there any possibility to do this

  35. I.e. I have cell K2 containing 2 different categories (OWN & LEASE). If cell K2 is "OWN" I want to add values from cell P2+R2+S2 or if cell K2 is "LEASE" then I only want to add values from Q2

  36. =index(A:A,MATCH(C:C,A:A,0))

  37. my column A contains the following formula:
    =INDIRECT("'"&$D$2&"'!"&Parameters!N$2&$C22)
    The formula gets values from another tab based on certain parameters.
    Using conditional formatting I want to make sure the indirect formula exists in all the cells and no one has tempered with the formula. Is there a way to conditional format the column A to highlight cells using the Indirect formula?
    Thanks

    KK

    1. Hello!
      It is very difficult to understand a formula that contains unique references to your workbook worksheets. For the same reason, I cannot check her work.
      I recommend using the FORMULATEXT function. It will extract the formula from the desired cell and write it down as text. You can compare this text with your formula if you also write it as text.

  38. Hi there, hoping I didn't miss this explained above or in the comments but here's what i'm trying to figure out:
    I have a list of titles in multiple rows of column I (Ex. I2 contains Associate, Manager, Senior Manager, Vice President. I3 contains Associate, Senior Manager, Vice President).
    I am using the following formula to separate each title into separate columns for each Row, if it is listed in "I" : =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Associate",I2)),"Associate") but I'm finding that when using the formula for Manager it is giving me a false positive because "Senior Manager" contains the word "Manager" (is should result in "FALSE").

    Basically, is there a way to add an exclusion for the word "senior" in the formula?

    Thanks!

    1. Hello Meghan!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Manager",I3)), IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Senior Manager",I3)),FALSE,"Associate"))

      I hope this will help

  39. Hi, upon some extensive research I couldn't find any answer to my problem. Here it is. Every month, I breakdown my transactions (from bank statements) according to their nature such as food, shopping and entertainment. So I prepared a key word mapping with natures as follows:

    Column A - Column B

    - Walmart - shopping
    - Netlix - entertainment
    - McDonalds - food

    in two column in excel (list is pretty long, examples are simplified). Each transaction records includes many words and details of the transaction. What I want is, if a transaction includes the key word of **NETFLIX**, I need to bring word **ENTERTAINMENT** as nature next to the transaction column in excel. Example: if transaction is "*...June charge of **NETFLIX** obtained from credit card 12345...*" the key word **NETFLIX** is included in the transaction details, then bring **ENTERTAINMENT**. Had I kept my list short, I would have done it with =if(isnumber(search(... formula but my list is looong.

    PS. Just extracting out the key word next to the transaction columnn would be fine, too. As the rest can be done by Vlookup.

    I need your help.

  40. Hello,
    I have a table in which I'm trying to match cities to markets. For example if I have a certain "City Name" in column G, I want a certain "Area name" in column J. I have tried all sorts of variations on this formula but am still a beginner and none of them seem to work.
    Noting that there would me multiple cities in column G to match the same area in column J.
    Any bit of help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

  41. Hi, Please can someone assist with a formula that checks 2 separate columns and if the text is an exact match then it must return a a text from the separate column and also a value to the correct column.

  42. -3.1441E-07x5
    + 9.9711E-05x4
    - 1.2506E-02x3
    + 7.4496E-01x2
    - 1.4013E+01x
    + 8.0642E+01
    I am trying to use =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("x",A1)), "LEFT(A1,FIND("x",A1)-1","A1") formula to look at each set of data and see it there is an "x" in the data string. If there is, I need to delete everything on the left of the "x", including the "x". However, if there is no 'x' I need the formula to sinply copy the data string as is, to the next cell. I may not have everthing just right but I now that the ISNUMBER(SEARCH is correct, I get TRUE, FALSE as I should. I have not been able to pair the formula with the rest, due to excel assuming that the "x" in the Left/Find statement is supposed to be a "*". Is there a way around this?
    Thank you

  43. HI, I need help with totaling up a number meeting a certain percent and the ablity to excluding any zeros. I can do the countif to obtain the percentage that achieves the required percent but I don't know how to exclude the zeros.
    example: % achieving 80% w/o "0"
    100
    85
    0
    80
    80
    0

  44. I have a budgeting document that reflects a few sub-budgets. I want there to be an overall balance column (G) and then 3 sub-budgets (I/J/K). I'd like a formula in I/J/K that states the following:

    If column B includes the following partial text xxx (the budget indicator code), then subtract F from the row above it. (F is the amount spent).

    The column B will include things like TS1, TS2, TS3 or HS1, HS2, HS3. (The TS and HS are the partial texts I want it to look for - with columns I and J being the TS and HS balance columns.)

  45. Hi , I have a list of products with the cost for each product is written in the adjacent cell . what I want is that when I type the name of the product in another worksheet , the value of the cost appears automatically . Can anybody please help me to find the exact equation for that ? thanks in advance

  46. Hello
    Is there a way of using the below formula, but rather than have it search for the specific text only within a cell, it can search a sentence containing "apple" or "banana" etc then return the value based on the sentence content? I need the formula to be able to search for multiple fruits and return the value in another cell depending on what fruit it found within the sentence.

    For example, cell A1 contains the sentence, "Mr Smith ate an apple".
    cell B1 should then return Apple. However, if cell A1 contained, "Mr Smith ate a banana", cell B2 should return "Banana".

    =IF(A2="apple", "Ap", IF(A2="avocado", "Av", IF(A2="banana", "B", IF(A2="lemon", "L", ""))))

    Hope this makes sense!

    Thank you

    1. Hi Rhys,

      COUNTIF with wildcards in the criteria works a treat:

      =IF(COUNTIF(A2, "*apple*")>0, "Ap", IF(COUNTIF(A2, "*avocado*")>0, "Av", IF(COUNTIF(A2, "*banana*")>0, "B", IF(COUNTIF(A2, "*lemon*")>0, "L", ""))))

      1. Thanks so much! Worked perfectly.

  47. what would I use in the formula to lookup if a cell has text or number? (replacing the ISNUMBER) ISTEXT will not work as the cell can contain text or a number.
    =IFERROR(IF(B17="","",IF(ISNUMBER(INDEX(T_E,MATCH(I_E,L_E,0),MATCH("ACT "&B17&" DT",L_H,0))),"R",CHAR(163))),"")

    1. In your MATCH formula, what is the T_E , I_E and L_E? I believe that should be a range, but what range is it referring to?

  48. Hello,
    I have numbers on Column A1 that I need B1 to return with a name if the number matches
    For example
    A1 is 118 and B1 needs to be Chad
    A1 is 132 and B1 needs to be Mike
    A1 is 109 and B1 needs to be Tuan
    A1 is 110 and B1 needs to be Kevin
    A1 is 115 and B1 needs to be Carlos
    A1 is 105 and B1 needs to be Mark
    A1 is 107 and B1 needs to be Curtis

    and so on, I have been fighting this all afternoon.

    1. Use VLOOKUP formula

  49. hi,
    I came across an interesting problem need help to solve.
    I have some text in Column A ( SKU ) and text to be searched in Column C ( Contains ), I need to search in SKU ( Column A) if any of the text listed in Contains ( Column C) need to insert value of Contains in Column B ( Print contains ) if none of the values in Contains ( Column C) is part of SKU ( Column A )then need to print No.
    Expected result as below sample.
    A B C
    SKU Print contains Contains
    --- ---------------- -----------
    Dress-Blue-S dress dress
    Tshirt-White-XL NO skrit
    Skirt-Pink-XS skrit jeans
    Skirt-Yellow-L NO
    Tshirt-Black-M NO
    Skrit-Yellow-L skrit
    Jeans-Blue-XS jeans
    Dress-White-S dress

    Thanks in advance.

  50. Hi, i found this platform very useful in my daily work. Kudos to the guys managing this site.

    I came across a problem that I am unable to find solutions or rather i might not know how to search the problem.

    I have 2 workbooks(Report and Checklist)
    In Report I have 2 columns, Item, Person
    In Checklist I have Columns for Items. (5 Items, Apple, Grapes, Banana, HoneyDew and Orange), I have rows for Adam, John and Tom

    In the Report Workbook. It shows this (the pipe symbol is to separate the columns)
    Item | Person
    Apple | Tom
    Apple | Adam
    Orange | Adam
    Orange | JOHN
    ...

    Expected outcome (In Checklist Workbook)
    I want to match in the column of Adam and Apple to show as "Yes" and so forth.

    Thanks in advance

Post a comment



Thank you for your comment!
When posting a question, please be very clear and concise. This will help us provide a quick and relevant solution to
your query. We cannot guarantee that we will answer every question, but we'll do our best :)