Comments on: How to use IF function in Excel: examples for text, numbers, dates, blanks

IF is one of the most popular and useful functions in Excel. Generally, you use an IF statement to test a condition and to return one value if the condition is met, and another value if the condition is not met. Continue reading

Comments page 2. Total comments: 4823

  1. Hi! Is this possible to use if function in this situation?

    Like overtime hours is:
    1:19 how can I get a result to this 1.25 hours in decimal?

    And what is the formula to get night differential in morning time in like this:
    time in is 3:00am how can get 3hours of night differential?

    Thank you

      1. Hi! I already get the formula to my question. But I have another question how can I round off the time 9:15am to 9:59am is equal to 10:00am?

        Thank you.

          1. Thank you for your response. Can you help me this one?

            Time in: 6:46am
            Time out: 11:22am

            I can't get the correct total number of working hours if I use this formula
            =(B1-A1)*24

            The result appear is 14:24hours it should be 4:36hours

            The regular time formula is the same result If I use this formula
            =MIN(8,C1)
            It appears also 14:24

  2. Hi all,

    I need to use an if formula that need to have in the return value if true and value if false, both a phrase and a value from a cell (better if the format of the number is showing as accounting).

    Ex.:=IF('page1'!O39>0,"Please see attached. Increased day over day by 'page1'!O39 ,Please see attached. Decreased day over day by 'page1'!O39")

  3. Hi all I need help
    No is 0 to 1000, I need 3 results,
    1 if the calculated no is less than 350 then use it , if more use 350.
    2 if the calculated no is more than 350 but less than 500, use it, less the 350, if more use 500
    3 if the calculated no is more than 500, use that no , less the 500
    Tks

  4. Hi,
    the apostrophe in true/false options has solved many of my problems
    thanks and regards

  5. Hello, I am trying to populate a cell with another cell value only if the cell is more than $0, but I can't find a formula to do this. I do not need it colored, or yes,no, or true,false. I need the value of the cell only if it's positive. Can someone help me?

    1. Hi! You cannot replace a value in a cell with another value using an Excel formula. You can do it manually or by using VBA. You can get the value you want in another cell using the recommendations in the article above.

      1. Alexander I tried the formulas above, but I do not need a true or false. I was thinking a formula with the IF function, like =IF(A2>0,"A2") but that does not work. It doesn't populate the value of the cell, it populates whatever I put inside the "", so in this case A2. Technically I could use =A2 but I need it to only populate if the value is over $0 because if the value is negative is going to affect the other calculations.

        1. Hi! Please read the above article carefully. If you are specifying a cell reference, do not use quotation marks. In your formula - "A2" is text, not a reference.

          =IF(A2>0,A2,"")

  6. Im trying to maka a table that has this conditions
    percentage A B C
    100% 200 180 150
    95-99% 170 150 120
    90-94% 150 120 90
    85-89% 120 90 60
    80-84% 50 20 0
    79% and below 0 0 0

    How can easily get results from this table when i encode class and percentage
    class percentage result
    Person 1 A 93% _______

    Result shoudl be 150

    1. Hello Angela!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following tutorial should help: INDEX MATCH MATCH to search in rows and columns.
      However, you can't search for the number 93 in column A because it is text, not numbers.
      If you write a value of 100, 99, 94, 89, 84, 79 in column A, you can use a formula like this:

      =INDEX(B2:D6, MATCH(G1,A2:A6,-1), MATCH(G2,B1:D1,0))

      You can learn more about MATCH function in this article on our blog: Excel MATCH function with formula examples.
      This should solve your task.

  7. Hi everybody, I have a question. Suppose if in an office the cut-off time is 9:00 am. If a staff entered office at 9:00 AM he will be marked "on time" in attendance sheet. but he entered at 9:05 AM, he will be marked "LATE". But if some one is on leave, how to formulate this in the attendance sheet with the two conditions mentioned before?

  8. Hi, i have a problem in excel formula.
    If, -528 less -590 / -590 = 62
    i want the result in percentage with positive sign instead of negative.

    Thanks.

  9. I am trying to create an if formula. I have 10 questions on column A. Column B I have yes and no for each of the 10 questions. On column C, I need to create a formula that if all the questions are "yes", 40%, if there is a no, it should be 0. Can you help me?

  10. if formula if(a =>12,48,50),of(b=>12,42,45) how to resolve the query

  11. Hi.. for logical_test, can it be in formula?

  12. Hello. I need formula to check if the item in the this tab, can be find in the other tab. Result will be yes or no

  13. I need a formula in cell H4 that divides H14 by H24 but if the value is greater than 100 enter 100 but if less than 100 then enter the true value of H14/H14.

    Thank you

    1. Hi! All the necessary information is in the article above. Here is an example formula:

      =IF(H14/H24>100,100,H14/H24)

      1. That did not work. Returns an error.

  14. Hi,
    I have 2 questions.

    1. I have employees that will be resigning effective June 20, 2024. They are currently tagged as "Active". I want excel to tag them as "Separated" come June 20. What do I do?
    2. I have employees that are still active, did not resign yet. Since there are no resignation date in the column, I want to tag them still as "Active" What do I do?

    Thank you.

  15. I need help with a formula that where the value in B4 is multiplied by either rates in (C2,D2,E2) if it is greater than a range of specific cells (C1, D1, E1). Example if B4=45, total will be 225.00 (C1*C2). Thank you.

    C1:45
    C2:5.00
    D1:100
    D2:4.00
    E1:300
    E2:2.00

    B4: 45

    B8: total

      1. Thank you for your reply but it isn't calculating the way I would like it to. The formula provided is adding the cells with 5.25 and 5.00 then multiplying cell B4 which isn't correct. The output i'm looking for is that B4 would be multiplied 5.00 since it is greater than 100. Hopefully this is much clearer, thank you.

        45 100 300 500 1000
        5.25 5.00 4.95 4.90 4.80

        B4: 105

        B5: TOTAL

        1. Hi! The formula I sent to you was created based on the description you provided in your first request. However, as far as I can see from your second comment, your task is now different from the original one.
          If I understand correctly, find the maximum number that is less than B4 using the MAX function and MATCH function. Then extract the corresponding value from the range C2:E2 using INDEX MATCH.

          =INDEX(C2:E2,MATCH(MAX((C1:E1

          1. I apologize for not explaining it clearly. I used the formula but it says I'm missing a parenthesis. Also, where would I enter B4 in the formula?

            1. Please disregard as I don't think it can be done.

    1. Sorry total will be 225.00 (B4*C2) not C1.

  16. Hi. Can you please help for IF/THEN.

    IF A1=X1, then show what is in cell Z1.

      1. Sir, Good evening!

        Sir i have one question, may be you can solve this.

        Sir,
        According in if function,

        If cell is blank then we can use - this cell number ="" ( that's ok)
        If cell will be number format /test format =?? ( how we show ?)

    1. Disregard.. I figured it out.

  17. in excel I want to enter a value (1 and above in one cell), and it should display 1 (value) in another cell. It should display 0 if the supplied value is 0.

  18. this is great god job thank you for sharing.

  19. Hi, I have values in two coloums i.e. in row 1, the value is in Col A and from row 2 to 10, the value is in Col B. Which formula can be used to call the required values from both Col A and B and return the value in Col C. Thanks.

    1. Hi! It is impossible to guess how you want to call required values. You can use the VLOOKUP formula to search multiple columns as described in this article. You can also combine multiple columns into a single column using the VSTACK function. There may be other solutions depending on what you want to do.

      1. Hello, Alex! I have two lists; an authorized user list and a transaction list. On the transaction list, it gives the name of who authorized the transaction. I already completed a VLOOKUP to have the authorized user's name next to the user who authorized the transaction. Now, I need to filter the data to show unauthorized transactions. I was thinking an easy IF statement would be the answer, but the wall I am hitting is stumping me. The names on the authorized user list have a couple names of who has authorization.
        Example: (A3)Authorized: Hayes, (B3)Authorizer: Hayes/Lopez.
        As you can see, Hayes is on the authorized list so he should be fine. My If statement is =IF(A3=B3,"Authorized","Unauthorized"). It seems the = is only giving me an EXACT match. Is there a way I can make the IF statement work?

        1. Hi! If I understand the question correctly, you want to determine if the text strings in cells A3 and B3 are partial matched. Based on the information provided, the formula could look like this:

          =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(A3,B3)),"Authorized","Unauthorized")

          For more information, please read: How to find substring in Excel

      2. Thank you for your prompt response

  20. Good Day,

    I have prepared a salary sheet with dates in a row and name of employee in the column, I want to get the total sum of salary Only of Today() (everyday in the same cell)
    =IF(T10="P", ((G10*1)+(U10*(G10/9))), "0") then sum of all the employees but this works only on one day.

    how may I automate it, please.

  21. I have a table for vacation for employee
    I would like to enter the day that start with month and year than it will automatically add the week date (which will start Sunday)
    Also in the table when a cell is selected it will subtract from the total of weeks each person have.

    Please help

  22. Hi
    Newbie question sorry....I have a column containing a number of text names equating to project status. As follows: onboarding, offboarding, leaving etc... (With a different designated numerical value to each)

    I.e Onboarding 5, Offboarding 3, Leaving 1 etc

    I would like to create an IF statement as a form of lookup to check the text name in the column against the list/values and display said value in a new column. I am wondering if this is the best way to do this? have started with the following..... =IF(E2="onboarding","5") .... but am wondering how to add the other names and values... and if this is actually possible?

    Again, a new user so scrabbling about without a lot of time to study the options...

    Any suggestions welcome.

  23. i need an if stmt to perform:

    IF cell E4 > 120
    then cell E36 = (E4-120)/8)
    ELSE
    cell E36 = 0

  24. Hi, i need to separate a mix column similar to this one. into 3 columns, (name, date, yes/no).
    Column is
    first, last
    11/27/2023
    Unapproved
    11/28/2023
    Unapproved
    Unapproved
    Unapproved
    12/6/2023
    Unapproved

    b, d
    12/1/2023
    Unapproved
    Unapproved
    12/2/2023
    Unapproved
    Unapproved

    needs to look something like this
    first, last 11/27/2023 unapproved
    first, last 11/28/2023 unapproved
    first last 11/28/2023 unapproved
    first last 11/28/2023 unapproved
    first last 12/6/2023 unapproved
    b, d 12/1/2023 Unapproved
    b, d 12/1/2023 Unapproved
    b, d 12/2/2023 Unapproved
    b, d 12/2/2023 Unapproved

    1. Hi! Unfortunately your data has no one pattern or regularity. Looks like this is not possible with the standard Excel options.

      1. Could you write three individual loops/statement in three different columns and the final condition is blank for the rows for the name and the date but in the row for the unapproved/approve in it. that row will place the name-date-condition??

        I have stated trying to solve this: =IF(A10="Unapproved", "Unapproved", "")

        1. Hi! Your question is not entirely clear to me. Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need.

  25. Hi, i need to use the IF function for a total score of more than 45 but less than 55 and a total score of more than 55 but less than 60

  26. I have 5 sell prices for each item in excel and I need to write an IF statement to see if they all match. Can you help?

  27. Hi, I need to write an IF statement for a column in which I already have some values which need to remain unchanged if the corresponding cell in the C column reads 'TRUE'. However, if the coresponding cell in the C column reads 'FALSE', then the cell must return 'NULL'. e.g C2 contains 'FALSE', therefore D2 will write 'NULL'. However, C4 contains 'TRUE', therefore the existing number in D4 '0.29' should remain unchanged. I can't find any logic which allows me to do this? The examples given use "" which returns a blank cell.

    1. Hi! An Excel formula can only return a value to the cell in which it is written, and it cannot return a value to another cell. A previously written value in a cell cannot be changed by an Excel formula. This can be done with VBA. For example, you can use a formula in the E column to either set the value to NULL or to get the value from the C column. For example:

      =IF(C2=FALSE,"NULL",D2)

  28. Thank you Alexander for this wonderful tutorial
    Your help is needed;

    From this excel function, IF(W54<20,0,IF(W54<31,2,IF(W54<51,4,IF(W54<76,6,IF(W54<100,7,IF(W54=100,8,0))))))
    I need your help with inserting a multiplicator into the IF function above to return values for 370, 400, 650, 275 and 914
    Is it possible to insert a multiplier to auto calculate up to a 1000 from the base IF function at the top?
    Thank you

    1. Hi! If I understand your question correctly: Instead of cell W54, you can use the cell range W54:W58 in the formula, where these five numbers will be written. The result will be an array of values.

  29. Hi, I am looking for a formula to add the following “rules” to a work sheet. If D count 50 if FW count 100, so in other words I want to add the value of 50 to D and the value of the 100 to FW. Can anyone help?

    1. Hi! How to perform calculations by conditions is described in detail in the article above. According to your explanations it is impossible to recommend you a formula, because it is not clear what D and FW are.

  30. i am Looking for a formula pls

    If C1 contain the text "Clarke", the value in C2 must be auto copied to C3. Is this possible?

    1. =IF(C1="Clarke",C3=C2,"") something like that. the end " " is a place holder, it depends on what you want to do if C1 doesnt = clarke

      1. Read carefully how to use the IF function. Your formula is not correct. Just write formula IF(C1="Clarke",C2,"") in cell C3.

    2. Hi! I recommend you to read carefully the instructions on how the IF function works with text. It can be found in the article above.
      IF(C1="Clarke",C2,"")

  31. How can I protect a formula in a field with a drop-down list aswell. Basically by IF/AND formula answers the value of "Not applicable" if the two preceding columns are both answered as "No", but if either of the two preceding columns have a "Yes", then I need people to be able to pick an option from the drop-down list, whichever is appropriate, but when you do, it wipes out the IF formula, so if the person entering data realise that maybe this miss-entered the values on the two preceding columns and it is actually both meant to be "No", then I want the IF formula to kick in and answer "Not applicable", but it won't because once you've selected something for the drop-down list, the formula is lost. not sure if I'm asking for too much, but thought I'd give it a go, maybe you have an easy solution.
    Thanks,

    1. Hello! A drop-down list writes a text value into a cell. When it does this, it clears all the previous contents of the cell. Using VBA, you can try to create a dropdown list if certain conditions are met. In this case, if the conditions are not met, the drop-down list does not exist.

  32. Need assistance trying to reconcile two source documents using 3 common conditions to match them. what's the best formula i can use?

  33. Hi, I hope you can help, in need of the following. A1 Date of Hire
    A2 Date of Term
    A3 calculate 12 months from A1 but if A2 has a date A3 would remain blank. (Using date driven for FMLA eligibility)
    A4 to show 480 hrs if A3 is 12 months from A1 as of todays date

    I hope I’ve explained it properly.

    1. Hi! I hope you have studied the recommendations in the tutorial above. It contains answers to your questions.
      To add 12 months to a date, use these instructions: Add months to date in Excel. For example:

      =IF(ISBLANK(A2),DATE(YEAR(A1), MONTH(A1) + 12, DAY(A1)),"")

      1. Thank you, I truly appreciate your help and knowledge.
        I should have mentioned that I am using seveal worksheets with vlookup to bring or have data follow.
        The DOH and TERM are vlookup, here is my formula that those cells have:
        =IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(A11,'Sheet1'!$A$3:$AI$335,9,FALSE)),"",IF(LEN(VLOOKUP(A11,'Sheet1'!$A$3:$AI$335,9,FALSE))=0,"",VLOOKUP(A11,'Sheet1'!$A$3:$AI$335,9,0)))

        The recommendation doesn't work with ISBLANK when there is a formula? Unless I'm missing it?

        1. Oh, I'm sure I'm making this more complicated than I should :)

          1. Took your advice and re-read the tutorial..
            My answer: =IF($G22"", "Term", EDATE(F22,12))

            THANK YOU!!!

  34. Hi, I have the criteria for a negative samples as <0.3. <0.3 is what is written in the cell. I want to say that if I70 is less than 0.3 then mark it as positive and if not mark it as false. Now I know that I could do IF(I70<0.3, "True", "False") but the difficulty is that I have a table whereby negative is 0.3 but this is all being extracted from a much larger table. This is all for an automated sheet to process a huge amount of data so I don't want to have to change the formula for each sample if you can follow. How can I write the equation so it responds to '<0.3' that is in the cell?

  35. I need to automate the cells using IF function
    For example : I have client and environment and DB instance details in separate excel, so based on client and environment it should tell us what should be the (it should automatically pick) DB instance name in excel
    Client : ball
    Environment : dev
    DB instance name : ?

  36. If My Value falls

    Up to $10000 apply 2.5%
    $10000 - $25000 apply 2.25%
    $25001 - $50000 apply 2%
    $50001 - $100000 apply 1.75%
    $100001 - $200000 apply 1.25%
    $200001 - $500000 apply 1%
    Greter than $500000 apply .75%

    How to write excel query?

  37. im trying to do a table for auditing a cash box, how do i make something that says IF the amount is less than given amount show "short" if its over, show "drop" and show me the amount its over

  38. Hi there,
    So I have the column for overtime hours rendered by our staff, next to it is the column remarks if the rendered overtime is saturday, holiday, and regular day. Then I have for column ROT, Holiday, and rest day. To avoid manually encode the OT hours if it's under ROT, Holiday and rest day, I need a formula for that. for example, if the overtime hours is with remarks of saturday, the figure will be in the column of rest day, if regular day under ROT and if holiday under holiday.
    thanks for the help

  39. HI ,
    I want to calculate Gratuity for the employees in the company and i have the difference between the joining date and the last day working day as a value to check it and implement into 4 Columns (options) , first column if the (value >=365 and less than 1095) , second column if the value >= 1095 and less than 1825 , third column if value >=1825 then till 1825 will be calculated in third column and more than 1825 will be calculated in fourth column , the major idea from the two comparisons for each to avoid the duplicate of the values in the other columns if we consider value 1850 >=365 for example will be calculated in all 4 columns .

    Thanks in advance .

      1. Thanks for your assistance . it was very helpful .

  40. I want to calculate a value for example:
    A1 has 100 and B1 and C1 can have 0 or any positive number
    Next A2 should be A1 minus (B1+C1) how to use if and else formula for this

    1. Hi! There is no "else formula" in Excel. It is not clear from your question why IF should be used here. Try A1-(B1+C1). Or describe the problem in more detail.

  41. Is there a way to write a formula that would state - If this number (in cell A2) is 25% less than another number (say in cell D2), give me a yes? Conversely, If A2 is 25% greater than D2, say yes.

  42. how do I make a formula that is like the match formula but instead of it saying match and don't match it would be a certain color like if it doesn't match then it would stay white but if it did match then it would be red

  43. I am comparing if 2 cells (text) match, if they match, then I copy the value from another cell that is a text, if not, just write "Input information".
    This is the formula that I am writing:
    =(EXACT(A2,B2),D2,"Input information")

    When I press enter it shows me the equation instead of the options.
    When I go to "Evaluate Formula" in the Formula menu, the message says: The cell currently being evaluated contains a constant.
    Columns A, B are formatted as General and column D as Text.

  44. Hi there, New to learn formula's on my own and looking for some help.
    Basically.... Im looking for a formula for the below....
    Table of data have been created B54:D78 - 3 columns, 25 rows.
    My selected cell is I8

    If Column I7 says ICU (B73), enter data from C73 in selected cell

    Hoped this make sense. Ive been trying for hrs ... Im missing something - just font know what ....

    Thank you in advance

    1. Its all good - I worked it out... I have copied below in case anyone was wondering...

      =IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(H6,B$54:B$78,0)),INDEX(C$54:C$78,MATCH(H6,B$54:B$78,0)),"")

      Thanks for this page... have learnt so much already .. :)

  45. Hello People,
    Please help me with the below query

    Suppose I have 4 Remarks column have different remarks

    Col D - RNR
    Col G - Interested
    Col V - Payment not processed
    Col W - Onboarded

    How do i get the latest remarks in Col Z - I.e. Onboarded.

    1. If Cell L2, Cell R2, Cell W2, Cell AB2 & Cell AG2 has a remarks, the latest remark should show in Column AM

      1. If Cell L2 = RNR
        Cell R2= Call Back
        Cell W2=Disconnected
        Cell AB2=Network Issue
        Cell AG2=Interested

        the latest remark should show in Cell AM as Interested

        Example 2
        If Cell L2 = RNR
        Cell R2= Call Back
        Cell W2=Disconnected
        Cell AB2=Blank Cell
        Cell AG2=Blank Cell
        the latest remark should show in Cell AM as Disconnected

  46. I'm trying to do a if function but use a formula. Is this possible or is it another function i should be using?
    =IF(H12="RO","0","=SUM(I12-H12-I13)")

    1. Hi! I don't know what you wanted to calculate. Read the article above carefully, as well as the instructions for the SUM function. Here is one possible variant of your formula:
      =IF(H12="RO",0,I12-H12-I13)

  47. Hi, I have different city names and I want to group it in different state by using IF function - pls support
    For Example, if one cell has the city name as "X" / "Y" / "Z" should be named as "Apple", If "A" / "B" / "C" as "Orange", so on - how to do it

  48. HI,
    i am trying to using IF command for following application but unable to success,

    =IF(H100=100A-3P,"100")

    will you please suggest is this formula is Ok or need correction

    Best Regards
    Mehmood Saleem

  49. I currently have this formula:

    =IF(B1601<0,"Currently Overspending by $"&IF(B1601<0,ROUND(SUM(B1601*-1),2),ROUND(B1601,2)) &"!","Can Contribute $"&ROUND(B1601,2) &" to Savings.")

    I was wondering if and how a different text format can be passed for the Value? For example I would like the "true" value to be red and bold and the "False" value to be blue and bold.

  50. Greetings. I am a 4th-grade teacher working on a data tracking spreadsheet and cannot figure out how to get the data I desire from two columns into the third column.

    Column C will have a student's test score (either a 1, 2, 3, or 4). Column D will have the student's retake test score (either a 1, 2, 3, 4, or it will be left blank because he or she did not need to take the retake). Currently, I am using the formula below to show the score change for a student's test in Column E:

    =IF(C5"",C5-D5,"")*(-1)

    I am looking to see data in the following manner:
    1) If there is data in Column C and in Column D, I want to show the data change in Column E
    - if the score goes up from a 1 to a 3, Column E would show a 2 (and of course any variation of a score increase would be represented)
    - if the score goes down from a 4 to a 3, Column E would show a -1 (and of course any variation of a score decrease would be represented)
    2) If there is data in Column C but not in Column D, I do not want data to show in Column E
    - if a student's data in Column C is 3 and there is no data in Column D (they did not take the retake test), I do not want anything to show in Column E

    I cannot wrap my head around how to get this done and have had great success with assistance on this Blog. For someone that understands the ins and outs of functions, my guess is this will not be too difficult, but for me, I am stumped. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

    Trigg

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 :)