Excel Functions Reference

Clear, practical reference pages for the Excel functions people search for most — syntax, worked examples, common errors, and Google Sheets compatibility in 8 languages.

• VLOOKUP in Excel: Syntax, Examples & Common ErrorsHow to use VLOOKUP in Excel: syntax, exact-match examples, and fixes for #N/A, #REF! and #VALUE! errors. Plus VLOOKUP vs XLOOKUP and Google Sheets compatibility.
• XLOOKUP in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use XLOOKUP in Excel: syntax, exact-match examples and fixes for #N/A, #NAME? and #VALUE!. Side-by-side with VLOOKUP and Google Sheets compatibility.
• INDEX MATCH in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use INDEX MATCH in Excel: syntax, exact-match examples, left lookups and fixes for #N/A and #REF!. Side-by-side with VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP, plus Google Sheets compatibility.
• COUNTIF in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use COUNTIF in Excel: syntax, criteria examples for numbers, text, dates and wildcards, fixes for a result of 0, and COUNTIF vs. COUNTIFS. Google Sheets compatible.
• SUMIF in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use SUMIF in Excel: syntax, criteria examples for numbers, text, dates and wildcards, how sum_range really behaves, fixes for a result of 0, and SUMIF vs. SUMIFS. Google Sheets compatible.
• IF in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use IF in Excel: syntax, what the optional third argument really does, text vs. numbers in results, nested IF, combining IF with AND and OR, fixes for FALSE and #VALUE!. Google Sheets compatible.
• IFERROR in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use IFERROR in Excel: syntax, catching #DIV/0! and #N/A, IFERROR with VLOOKUP, IFERROR vs. IF+ISERROR, why it can hide real errors, and fixes for #NAME?. Google Sheets compatible.
• TEXTJOIN in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use TEXTJOIN in Excel: syntax, delimiter and ignore_empty, joining with line breaks, TEXTJOIN vs. CONCAT and CONCATENATE, the 32767-character #VALUE! limit, and fixes for #NAME?. Google Sheets compatible.
• TEXTSPLIT in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use TEXTSPLIT in Excel: syntax, col_delimiter and row_delimiter, multiple delimiters, pad_with and #N/A, #SPILL! fixes, and the Google Sheets SPLIT equivalent. Microsoft 365 and Excel 2024 only.
• CONCAT in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use CONCAT in Excel: syntax and the range trick, CONCAT vs. CONCATENATE and the & operator, dates joining as serial numbers, the text result trap, and fixes for #NAME? and #VALUE!. Google Sheets compatible.
• SUBSTITUTE in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use SUBSTITUTE in Excel: syntax and instance_num, replacing only the nth occurrence, deleting characters, the word-count trick, SUBSTITUTE vs. REPLACE and Find & Replace, and the #VALUE! fix. Google Sheets compatible.
• LEFT in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use LEFT in Excel: syntax, extracting text before a delimiter with FIND and SEARCH, first names and prefix codes, #VALUE! fixes, LEFT vs. MID and TEXTBEFORE, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• RIGHT in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use RIGHT in Excel: syntax, extracting text after a delimiter with FIND and SEARCH, last names and suffix codes, #VALUE! fixes, RIGHT vs. MID and TEXTAFTER, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• MID in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use MID in Excel: syntax, extracting text between two delimiters with FIND, middle segments and area codes, #VALUE! fixes, MID vs. LEFT and RIGHT, vs. TEXTBEFORE/TEXTAFTER, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• UPPER in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use UPPER in Excel: syntax, converting names and codes to capitals, why numbers turn into text, EXACT case checks, UPPER vs. LOWER and PROPER, Flash Fill, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• LOWER in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use LOWER in Excel: syntax, normalizing emails and usernames, extracting lowercase domains, why numbers turn into text, EXACT case checks, LOWER vs. UPPER and PROPER, Flash Fill, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• PROPER in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use PROPER in Excel: syntax, display-ready names and titles, why McDonald flattens to Mcdonald, why numbers turn into text, EXACT case checks, PROPER vs. UPPER and LOWER, Flash Fill, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• TRIM in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use TRIM in Excel: syntax, stripping leading and doubled spaces, why it fails on non-breaking spaces, the LEN space-count trick, TRIM vs. CLEAN and Flash Fill, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• LEN in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use LEN in Excel: syntax, counting characters, the LEN-TRIM space audit, counting words and hidden line breaks, why dates report 5, LEN vs. LENB, and Google Sheets compatibility.
• VALUE in Excel: Syntax, Examples and ErrorsHow to use VALUE in Excel: syntax, converting text numbers, the TRIM-then-convert cleanup, IFERROR wrapping, why dates return serial numbers, why currency symbols fail, and Google Sheets compatibility.