Microsoft Excel Formulas

Don’t waste any more hours in Microsoft Excel doing things
manually. There are many ways to use Excel formulas to
decrease the amount of time you spend in Excel and
increase the accuracy of your data and your reports.
Excel Formulas You Should Definitely
Know:
1. SUM
Formula: =SUM(5, 5) or =SUM(A1, B1) or =SUM(A1:B5)
The SUM formula does exactly what you would expect. It
allows you to add 2 or more numbers together. You can use
cell references as well in this formula.
The above shows you different examples. You can have
numbers in there separated by commas and it will add them
together for you, you can have cell references and as long as
there are numbers in those cells it will add them together for
you, or you can have a range of cells with a colon in
between the 2 cells, and it will add the numbers in all the
cells in the range.
2. COUNT
Formula: =COUNT(A1:A10)
The count formula counts the number of cells in a range that
have numbers in them.
This formula only works with numbers though:
It only counts the cells where there are numbers.
**Learn more about the COUNT function in this on-demand,
online course. FREE preview**
3. COUNTA
Formula: =COUNTA(A1:A10)
Counts the number of non-empty cells in a range. It will
count cells that have numbers and/or any other characters
in them.
The COUNTA Formula works with all data types.
It counts the number of non-empty cells no matter the data
type.

4. LEN
Formula: =LEN(A1)
The LEN formula counts the number of characters in a cell.
Be careful though! This includes spaces.
Notice the difference in the formula results: 10 characters
without spaces in between the words, 12 with spaces
between the words.
5. TRIM
Formula: =TRIM(A1)
Gets rid of any space in a cell, except for single spaces
between words. I’ve found this formula to be extremely
useful because I’ve often run into situations where you pull
data from a database and for some reason extra spaces are
put in behind or in front of legitimate data. This can wreak
havoc if you are trying to compare using IF statements or
VLOOKUP’s.
I added in an extra space behind “I Love Excel”. The TRIM
formula removes that extra space. Check out the character
count difference with and without the TRIM formula.
6. RIGHT, LEFT, MID
Formulas: = RIGHT(text, number of characters), =LEFT(text,
number of characters), =MID(text, start number, number of
characters).
(Note: In all of these formulas, wherever it says “text” you
can use a cell reference as well)
These formulas return the specified number of characters
from a text string. RIGHT gives you the number of characters
from the right of the text string, LEFT gives you the number
of characters from the left, and MID gives you the specified
number of characters from the middle of the word. You tell
the MID formula where to start with the start_number and
then it grabs the specified number of characters to the right
of the start_number.
I used the LEFT formula to get the first word. I had it look in
cell A1 and grab only the 1st character from the left. This
gave us the word “I” from “I love Excel”
I used the MID formula to get the middle word. I had it look
in cell A1, start at character 3, and grab 5 characters after
that. This gives us just the word “love” from “I love Excel”
I used the RIGHT formula to get the last word. I had it look at
cell A1 and grab the first 6 characters from the right. This
gives us “Excel” from “I love Excel”
7. VLOOKUP
Formula: =VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array,
col_index_num, range_lookup)
By far my most used formula. The official description of
what it does: “Looks for a value in the leftmost column of a
table, and then returns a value in the same row from a
column you specify…”. ( See the full explanation of
VLOOKUP) Basically, you define a value (the lookup_value)
for the formula to look for. It looks for this value in the
leftmost column of a table (the table_array).
Note: If at all possible use a number for the lookup_value.
This makes it a lot easier to make sure the data you are
getting back is a correct match.
If it finds a match of the “lookup_value” in the left column of
the “table_array” it will return the value in the column you
specify using the “index_num”. The “index_num” is relative
to the left most column. So, if you have the table_index look
in column A and you want what is returned to be what’s in
column B the “index_num” would be 2 because the leftmost
column, column A in this case, is the 1st column in the
table array and column B is the 2nd column (hence the 2 for
the index number). If you want what is in column C to be
returned you’d put 3 for the index_num. The “range_lookup”
is a TRUE or FALSE value. If you put TRUE it will give you the
closest match. If you put FALSE it will only give you an exact
match. I only use FALSE when using the VLOOKUP formula.
Example:
You have 2 lists: 1 with a sales person’s ID and the sales
revenue for the quarter. Another with the sales person’s ID
and the sales person’s name. You want to match up the sales
person’s name to the sales person’s revenue numbers for
the quarter. They are all jumbled around so to manually
match this, even for a small number of salesmen would
leave room for a high margin of error and take a lot of time.
The first list goes from A1 to B13. The 2nd list goes from D1
to E25.
In cell C1 I would put the formula =VLOOKUP(B18, $A$1:$B
$13, 2, FALSE)
B18 = the lookup_value (the sales person’s ID. This is a
number that appears on both lists.)
$A$1:$B$13 = the “table_array”. This is the area I want the
formula to search the leftmost column (column E in this
case) for the “lookup_value”. I went to F because if it finds
match in column E, I want it to return what’s in column F.
(The money signs are there so that the table_array will stay
the same no matter where the formula is moved or copied
to. This is called an absolute reference.)
2 = the index_num. This tells the formula the number of
columns away from the left most column to return in case of
match. So, if you find a match between the lookup_value and
the leftmost column of the table array, return what’s in the
same row in the 2nd column of the table (the 1st column is
always the leftmost column. It starts at 1, not 0).
FALSE= tells the formula I want it to only return the value if
it’s an exact match.
I would then copy and paste that formula along all the cells
in column C next to the first list. This would give me a
perfectly aligned list with the sales person’s ID, sales
person’s revenue for the quarter, and the sales person’s
name.
In order to get a nice neat list of Sales Person ID, Sales
Person Name, and Sales Person Revenue all next to each
other I used the VLOOKUP formula to compare 1 list to
another.
This is a complicated formula, but an extremely useful one.
Check out some other examples: Vlookup Example,
Microsoft’s Official Example.
**Learn more about the VLOOKUP function in this on-
demand, online course. FREE preview**
8. IF Statements
Formula: =IF(logical_statement, return this if logical
statement is true, return this if logical statement is false)
When you’re doing an analysis of a lot of data in Excel there
are a lot of scenarios you could be trying to discover and
the data has to react differently based on a different
situation.
Continuing with the sales example: Let’s say a salesperson
has a quota to meet. You used VLOOKUP to put the revenue
next to the name. Now you can use an IF statement that says:
“IF the salesperson met their quota, say “Met quota”, if not
say “Did not meet quota” (Tip: saying it in a statement like
this can make it a lot easier to create the formula, especially
when you get to more complicated things like Nested IF
Statements in Excel).
It would look like this:
In the example with the VLOOKUP we had the revenue in
column B and the person’s name in column C (brought in
with the VLOOKUP). We could put their quota in column D
and then we’d put the following formula in cell E1:
=IF(C3>D3, “Met Quota”, “Did Not Meet Quota”)
This IF statement will tell us if the first salesperson met their
quota or not. We would then copy and paste this formula
along all the entries in the list. It would change for each
sales person.
Having the result right there from the IF statement is a lot
easier than manually figuring this out.
9. SUMIF, COUNTIF, AVERAGEIF
Formulas: =SUMIF(range, criteria, sum_range), =COUNTIF
(range, criteria), =AVERAGEIF(range, criteria, average_range)
These formulas all do their respective functions (SUM,
COUNT, AVERAGE) IF the criteria are met. There are also the
formulas: SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, AVERAGEIFS where they will do
their respective functions based on multiple criteria you give
the formula.
I use these formulas in our example to see the average
revenue (AVERAGEIF) if a person met their quota, Total
revenue (SUMIF) for the just the sales people who met their
quota, and the count of sales people who met their quota
(COUNTIF)
10. CONCATENATE
A fancy word for combining data in 2 (or more) different
cells into one cell. This can be done with the Concatenate
excel formula or it can be done by simply putting the &
symbol in between the two cells. If I have “Steve” in cell A1
and “Quatrani” in cell B1 I could put this formula: =A1&”
“&B1 and it would give me “Steve Quatrani”. (The “ “ puts a
space in between what you are combining with the &). I can
use =concatenate(A1, “ “, B1) and it will give me the same
thing: “Steve Quatrani”
Finding The Right Excel Formulas For The Job
There are 316 built in functions in Excel. You’re not going to
sit there and memorize what all of them do (or at least I
hope not!). Luckily Excel has a built in wizard that helps you
find the correct formula for what you’re looking to do (if
there is one).
Click the “fx” next to the formula bar in Excel
This brings up a menu and in there you can type in a
description of what you are trying to do and it will bring up
the correct excel formula:
I typed in “remove extra spaces” and it returned the TRIM
formula that we went over earlier.
More Excel Formulas
There is so much more that I use on a regular basis such as
Time formulas (NOW, TODAY, MONTH, YEAR, DAY, etc.),
other formulas like AND and OR, along with many others.
The real power comes in combining these functions into
complicated excel formulas.
Learn Excel Formulas Today!
Breaking Down Complicated Excel
Formulas
=IFERROR(TRIM(IF(LEN(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B
$10000, 2, FALSE))>0,SUBSTITUTE(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A
$1:$B$10000, 2, FALSE), ” “, “”),”")), “”)
Do you see formulas like the one above and run away
screaming AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Well I don’t blame ya!
This can be a really intimidating formula even for the most
seasoned Excel user.
I have a solution for you that makes it easy to both break
down, and build up complicated combinations of Excel
formulas but first check out this short video by fellow
Udemy trainer, Mynda Treacy, that will reveal tips on how to
get inside the mind of an Excel formula:
So What’s Going on With This Excel Formula?
Let’s break down all the Excel functions in it:
IFERROR
TRIM
IF
LEN
VLOOKUP
SUBSTITUTE
I’m not going to go in depth into each formula, but you’ll get
the point.
Let’s start with the innermost formula. This is the end result
that you are trying to accomplish.
We want to take a phrase (that we get with a VLOOKUP) that
has a space in it and SUBSTITUTE that space with nothing. So
it will take a phrase like “Excel Formula” and make it
“ExcelFormula”.
SUBSTITUTE(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B$10000, 2, FALSE),
” “, “”)
We use the VLOOKUP formula to get the actual phrase we
want from a different sheet in the Excel Workbook if it
matches what’s in cell F7.
VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B$10000, 2, FALSE)
We use an IF statement to say IF the number of characters
(LEN) of what’s returned from the VLOOKUP is above 0, then
run the VLOOKUP, otherwise, put nothing here. This way if
the VLOOKUP returns nothing, then nothing will happen and
this will prevent most errors.
IF(LEN(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B$10000, 2,
FALSE))>0,SUBSTITUTE(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B$10000,
2, FALSE), ” “, “”),”")
We then wrap it with the TRIM function which gets rid of all
extra spaces, besides 1 space in between words. Sometimes
when you’re getting data from a database extra spaces can be
added after a word. This can make it really hard to compare
data from different sources, so the TRIM function comes in
handy a lot!
TRIM(IF(LEN(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B$10000, 2,
FALSE))>0,SUBSTITUTE(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B$10000,
2, FALSE), ” “, “”),”")
Finally we wrap it in the IFERROR formula. This formula will
be triggered if the other formulas wind up giving you an
error. It could look something like #N/A and that’s pretty
ugly. This can happen for legitimate reasons, but you don’t
want to hand your boss a sheet full of #N/A symbols.
What happens is IF the combined formulas return any excel
error, it will make the cell blank, otherwise it will show the
results of the formula.
=IFERROR(TRIM(IF(LEN(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A$1:$B
$10000, 2, FALSE))>0,SUBSTITUTE(VLOOKUP(F7, Sheet2!$A
$1:$B$10000, 2, FALSE), ” “, “”),”")), “”)
There you have it, this long complicated formula broken
down into simple step by step functions.
You can use the same method for building up a long
formula
Our goal is to SUBSTITUTE the spaces for nothing so we start
with that. We then have to pull it in from another sheet so
we use VLOOKUP for that, etc., etc.
You always start with the innermost formula, the end result
that you are looking for. Then you use other formulas to
help you deal with the different situations you’ll have to deal
with working with large datasets.