Higher functions of excel

Below is a brief overview of about 100 important Excel functions you should know, with links to detailed examples. We also have a large list of example formulas, a more complete list of Excel functions, and video training. If you are new to Excel formulas, see this introduction.

Note: Excel now includes Dynamic Array formulas, which offer important new functions.

Date and Time Functions

Excel provides many functions to work with dates and times. 

NOW and TODAY

You can get the current date with the TODAY function and the current date and time with the NOW Function. Technically, the NOW function returns the current date and time, but you can format as time only, as seen below:

TODAY() // returns current date
NOW() // returns current time

Note: these are volatile functions and will recalculate with every worksheet change. If you want a static value, use date and time shortcuts.

DAY, MONTH, YEAR, and DATE

You can use the DAY, MONTH, and YEAR functions to disassemble any date into its raw components, and the DATE function to put things back together again.

=DAY("14-Nov-2018") // returns 14
=MONTH("14-Nov-2018") // returns 11
=YEAR("14-Nov-2018") // returns 2018
=DATE(2018,11,14) // returns 14-Nov-2018

HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, and TIME

Excel provides a set of parallel functions for times. You can use the HOUR, MINUTE, and SECOND functions to extract pieces of a time, and you can assemble a TIME from individual components with the TIME function.

=HOUR("10:30") // returns 10
=MINUTE("10:30") // returns 30
=SECOND("10:30") // returns 0
=TIME(10,30,0) // returns 10:30

DATEDIF and YEARFRAC

You can use the DATEDIF function to get time between dates in years, months, or days. DATEDIF can also be configured to get total time in «normalized» denominations, i.e. «2 years and 6 months and 27 days».

Use YEARFRAC to get fractional years:

=YEARFRAC("14-Nov-2018","10-Jun-2021") // returns 2.57

EDATE and EOMONTH

A common task with dates is to shift a date forward (or backward) by a given number of months. You can use the EDATE and EOMONTH functions for this. EDATE moves by month and retains the day. EOMONTH works the same way, but always returns the last day of the month.

EDATE(date,6) // 6 months forward
EOMONTH(date,6) // 6 months forward (end of month)

WORKDAY and NETWORKDAYS

To figure out a date n working days in the future, you can use the WORKDAY function. To calculate the number of workdays between two dates, you can use NETWORKDAYS.

WORKDAY(start,n,holidays) // date n workdays in future

Video: How to calculate due dates with WORKDAY

NETWORKDAYS(start,end,holidays) // number of workdays between dates

Note: Both functions automatically skip weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and will also skip holidays, if provided. If you need more flexibility on what days are considered weekends, see the WORKDAY.INTL function and NETWORKDAYS.INTL function. 

WEEKDAY and WEEKNUM

To figure out the day of week from a date, Excel provides the WEEKDAY function. WEEKDAY returns a number between 1-7 that indicates Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. Use the WEEKNUM function to get the week number in a given year.

=WEEKDAY(date) // returns a number 1-7
=WEEKNUM(date) // returns week number in year

Engineering

CONVERT

Most Engineering functions are pretty technical…you’ll find a lot of functions for complex numbers in this section. However, the CONVERT function is quite useful for everyday unit conversions. You can use CONVERT to change units for distance, weight, temperature, and much more.

=CONVERT(72,"F","C") // returns 22.2

Information Functions

ISBLANK, ISERROR, ISNUMBER, and ISFORMULA

Excel provides many functions for checking the value in a cell, including ISNUMBER,  ISTEXT, ISLOGICAL, ISBLANK, ISERROR, and ISFORMULA  These functions are sometimes called the «IS» functions, and they all return TRUE or FALSE based on a cell’s contents.

Excel also has ISODD and ISEVEN functions that will test a number to see if it’s even or odd.

By the way, the green fill in the screenshot above is applied automatically with a conditional formatting formula.

Logical Functions

Excel’s logical functions are a key building block of many advanced formulas. Logical functions return the boolean values TRUE or FALSE. If you need a primer on logical formulas, this video goes through many examples.

AND, OR and NOT

The core of Excel’s logical functions are the AND function, the OR function, and the NOT function. In the screen below, each of these function is used to run a simple test on the values in column B:

=AND(B5>3,B5<9)
=OR(B5=3,B5=9)
=NOT(B5=2)

• Video: How to build logical formulas
• Guide: 50 examples of formula criteria

IFERROR and IFNA

The IFERROR function and IFNA function can be used as a simple way to trap and handle errors. In the screen below, VLOOKUP is used to retrieve cost from a menu item. Column F contains just a VLOOKUP function, with no error handling. Column G shows how to use IFNA with VLOOKUP to display a custom message when an unrecognized item is entered.

=VLOOKUP(E5,menu,2,0) // no error trapping
=IFNA(VLOOKUP(E5,menu,2,0),"Not found") // catch errors

Whereas IFNA only catches an #N/A error, the IFERROR function will catch any formula error.

IF and IFS functions

The IF function is one of the most used functions in Excel. In the screen below, IF checks test scores and assigns «pass» or «fail»:

Multiple IF functions can be nested together to perform more complex logical tests.

New in Excel 2019 and Excel 365, the IFS function can run multiple logical tests without nesting IFs.

=IFS(C5<60,"F",C5<70,"D",C5<80,"C",C5<90,"B",C5>=90,"A")

Lookup and Reference Functions

VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP

Excel offers a number of functions to lookup and retrieve data. Most famous of all is VLOOKUP:

=VLOOKUP(C5,$F$5:$G$7,2,TRUE)

More: 23 things to know about VLOOKUP.

HLOOKUP works like VLOOKUP, but expects data arranged horizontally:

=HLOOKUP(C5,$G$4:$I$5,2,TRUE)

INDEX and MATCH

For more complicated lookups, INDEX and MATCH offers more flexibility and power:

=INDEX(C5:E12,MATCH(H4,B5:B12,0),MATCH(H5,C4:E4,0))

Both the INDEX function and the MATCH function are powerhouse functions that turn up in all kinds of formulas.

More: How to use INDEX and MATCH

LOOKUP

The LOOKUP function has default behaviors that make it useful when solving certain problems. LOOKUP assumes values are sorted in ascending order and always performs an approximate match. When LOOKUP can’t find a match, it will match the next smallest value. In the example below we are using LOOKUP to find the last entry in a column:

ROW and COLUMN

You can use the ROW function and COLUMN function to find row and column numbers on a worksheet. Notice both ROW and COLUMN return values for the current cell if no reference is supplied:

The row function also shows up often in advanced formulas that process data with relative row numbers.

ROWS and COLUMNS

The ROWS function and COLUMNS function provide a count of rows in a reference. In the screen below, we are counting rows and columns in an Excel Table named «Table1».

Note ROWS returns a count of data rows in a table, excluding the header row. By the way, here are 23 things to know about Excel Tables.

HYPERLINK

You can use the HYPERLINK function to construct a link with a formula. Note HYPERLINK lets you build both external links and internal links:

=HYPERLINK(C5,B5)

GETPIVOTDATA

The GETPIVOTDATA function is useful for retrieving information from existing pivot tables.

=GETPIVOTDATA("Sales",$B$4,"Region",I6,"Product",I7)

CHOOSE

The CHOOSE function is handy any time you need to make a choice based on a number:

=CHOOSE(2,"red","blue","green") // returns "blue"

Video: How to use the CHOOSE function

TRANSPOSE

The TRANSPOSE function gives you an easy way to transpose vertical data to horizontal, and vice versa.

{=TRANSPOSE(B4:C9)}

Note: TRANSPOSE is a formula and is, therefore, dynamic. If you just need to do a one-time transpose operation, use Paste Special instead.

OFFSET

The OFFSET function is useful for all kinds of dynamic ranges. From a starting location, it lets you specify row and column offsets, and also the final row and column size. The result is a range that can respond dynamically to changing conditions and inputs. You can feed this range to other functions, as in the screen below, where OFFSET builds a range that is fed to the SUM function:

=SUM(OFFSET(B4,1,I4,4,1)) // sum of Q3

INDIRECT

The INDIRECT function allows you to build references as text. This concept is a bit tricky to understand at first, but it can be useful in many situations. Below, we are using INDIRECT to get values from cell A1 in 5 different worksheets. Each reference is dynamic. If a sheet name changes, the reference will update.

=INDIRECT(B5&"!A1") // =Sheet1!A1

The INDIRECT function is also used to «lock» references so they won’t change, when rows or columns are added or deleted. For more details, see linked examples at the bottom of the INDIRECT function page.

Caution: both OFFSET and INDIRECT are volatile functions and can slow down large or complicated spreadsheets.

STATISTICAL Functions

COUNT and COUNTA

You can count numbers with the COUNT function and non-empty cells with COUNTA. You can count blank cells with COUNTBLANK, but in the screen below we are counting blank cells with COUNTIF, which is more generally useful.

=COUNT(B5:F5) // count numbers
=COUNTA(B5:F5) // count numbers and text
=COUNTIF(B5:F5,"") // count blanks

COUNTIF and COUNTIFS

For conditional counts, the COUNTIF function can apply one criteria. The COUNTIFS function can apply multiple criteria at the same time:

=COUNTIF(C5:C12,"red") // count red
=COUNTIF(F5:F12,">50") // count total > 50
=COUNTIFS(C5:C12,"red",D5:D12,"TX") // red and tx
=COUNTIFS(C5:C12,"blue",F5:F12,">50") // blue > 50

Video: How to use the COUNTIF function

SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS

To sum everything, use the SUM function. To sum conditionally, use SUMIF or SUMIFS. Following the same pattern as the counting functions, the SUMIF function can apply only one criteria while the SUMIFS function can apply multiple criteria.

=SUM(F5:F12) // everything
=SUMIF(C5:C12,"red",F5:F12) // red only
=SUMIF(F5:F12,">50") // over 50
=SUMIFS(F5:F12,C5:C12,"red",D5:D12,"tx") // red & tx
=SUMIFS(F5:F12,C5:C12,"blue",F5:F12,">50") // blue & >50

Video: How to use the SUMIF function

AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, and AVERAGEIFS

Following the same pattern, you can calculate an average with AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, and AVERAGEIFS.

=AVERAGE(F5:F12) // all
=AVERAGEIF(C5:C12,"red",F5:F12) // red only
=AVERAGEIFS(F5:F12,C5:C12,"red",D5:D12,"tx") // red and tx

MIN, MAX, LARGE, SMALL

You can find largest and smallest values with MAX and MIN, and nth largest and smallest values with LARGE and SMALL. In the screen below, data is the named range C5:C13, used in all formulas.

=MAX(data) // largest
=MIN(data) // smallest
=LARGE(data,1) // 1st largest
=LARGE(data,2) // 2nd largest
=LARGE(data,3) // 3rd largest
=SMALL(data,1) // 1st smallest
=SMALL(data,2) // 2nd smallest
=SMALL(data,3) // 3rd smallest

Video: How to find the nth smallest or largest value

MINIFS, MAXIFS

The MINIFS and MAXIFS. These functions let you find minimum and maximum values with conditions:

=MAXIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"female") // highest female
=MAXIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"male") // highest male
=MINIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"female") // lowest female
=MINIFS(D5:D15,C5:C15,"male") // lowest male

Note: MINIFS and MAXIFS are new in Excel via Office 365 and Excel 2019.

MODE

The MODE function returns the most commonly occurring number in a range:

=MODE(B5:G5) // returns 1

RANK

To rank values largest to smallest, or smallest to largest, use the RANK function:

Video: How to rank values with the RANK function

MATH Functions

ABS

To change negative values to positive use the ABS function.

=ABS(-134.50) // returns 134.50

RAND and RANDBETWEEN

Both the RAND function and RANDBETWEEN function can generate random numbers on the fly. RAND creates long decimal numbers between zero and 1. RANDBETWEEN generates random integers between two given numbers.

=RAND() // between zero and 1
=RANDBETWEEN(1,100) // between 1 and 100

ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, INT

To round values up or down, use the ROUND function. To force rounding up to a given number of digits, use ROUNDUP. To force rounding down, use ROUNDDOWN. To discard the decimal part of a number altogether, use the INT function.

=ROUND(11.777,1) // returns 11.8
=ROUNDUP(11.777) // returns 11.8
=ROUNDDOWN(11.777,1) // returns 11.7
=INT(11.777) // returns 11

MROUND, CEILING, FLOOR

To round values to the nearest multiple use the MROUND function. The FLOOR function and CEILING function also round to a given multiple. FLOOR forces rounding down, and CEILING forces rounding up.

=MROUND(13.85,.25) // returns 13.75
=CEILING(13.85,.25) // returns 14
=FLOOR(13.85,.25) // returns 13.75

MOD

The MOD function returns the remainder after division. This sounds boring and geeky, but MOD turns up in all kinds of formulas, especially formulas that need to do something «every nth time». In the screen below, you can see how MOD returns zero every third number when the divisor is 3:

SUMPRODUCT

The SUMPRODUCT function is a powerful and versatile tool when dealing with all kinds of data. You can use SUMPRODUCT to easily count and sum based on criteria, and you can use it in elegant ways that just don’t work with COUNTIFS and SUMIFS. In the screen below, we are using SUMPRODUCT to count and sum orders in March. See the SUMPRODUCT page for details and links to many examples.

=SUMPRODUCT(--(MONTH(B5:B12)=3)) // count March
=SUMPRODUCT(--(MONTH(B5:B12)=3),C5:C12) // sum March

SUBTOTAL

The SUBTOTAL function is an «aggregate function» that can perform a number of operations on a set of data. All told, SUBTOTAL can perform 11 operations, including SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MAX, MIN, etc. (see this page for the full list). The key feature of SUBTOTAL is that it will ignore rows that have been «filtered out» of an Excel Table, and, optionally, rows that have been manually hidden. In the screen below, SUBTOTAL is used to count and sum only the 7 visible rows in the table:

=SUBTOTAL(3,B5:B14) // returns 7
=SUBTOTAL(9,F5:F14) // returns 9.54

AGGREGATE

Like SUBTOTAL, the AGGREGATE function can also run a number of aggregate operations on a set of data and can optionally ignore hidden rows. The key differences are that AGGREGATE can run more operations (19 total) and can also ignore errors.

In the screen below, AGGREGATE is used to perform MIN, MAX, LARGE and SMALL operations while ignoring errors. Normally, the error in cell B9 would prevent these functions from returning a result. See this page for a full list of operations AGGREGATE can perform.

=AGGREGATE(4,6,values) // MAX ignore errors, returns 100
=AGGREGATE(5,6,values) // MIN ignore errors, returns 75

TEXT Functions

LEFT, RIGHT, MID

To extract characters from the left, right, or middle of text, use LEFT, RIGHT, and MID functions:

=LEFT("ABC-1234-RED",3) // returns "ABC"
=MID("ABC-1234-RED",5,4) // returns "1234"
=RIGHT("ABC-1234-RED",3) // returns "RED"

LEN

The LEN function will return the length of a text string. LEN shows up in a lot of formulas that count words or characters.

FIND, SEARCH

To look for specific text in a cell, use the FIND function or SEARCH function. These functions return the numeric position of matching text, but SEARCH allows wildcards and FIND is case-sensitive. Both functions will throw an error when text is not found, so wrap in the ISNUMBER function to return TRUE or FALSE (example here).

=FIND("Better the devil you know","devil") // returns 12
=SEARCH("This is not my beautiful wife","bea*") // returns 12

REPLACE, SUBSTITUTE

To replace text by position, use the REPLACE function. To replace text by matching, use the SUBSTITUTE function. In the first example, REPLACE removes the two asterisks (**) by replacing the first two characters with an empty string («»). In the second example, SUBSTITUTE removes all hash characters (#) by replacing «#» with «».

=REPLACE("**Red",1,2,"") // returns "Red"
=SUBSTITUTE("##Red##","#","") // returns "Red"

CODE, CHAR

To figure out the numeric code for a character, use the CODE function. To translate the numeric code back to a character, use the CHAR function. In the example below, CODE translates each character in column B to its corresponding code. In column F, CHAR translates the code back to a character.

=CODE("a") // returns 97
=CHAR(97) // returns "a"

Video: How to use the CODE and CHAR functions

TRIM, CLEAN

To get rid of extra space in text, use the TRIM function. To remove line breaks and other non-printing characters, use CLEAN.

=TRIM(A1) // remove extra space
=CLEAN(A1) // remove line breaks

Video: How to clean text with TRIM and CLEAN

CONCAT, TEXTJOIN, CONCATENATE

New in Excel  via Office 365 are CONCAT and TEXTJOIN. The CONCAT function lets you concatenate (join) multiple values, including a range of values without a delimiter. The TEXTJOIN function does the same thing, but allows you to specify a delimiter and can also ignore empty values.

=TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,B4:H4) // returns "red,blue,green,pink,black"
=CONCAT(B7:H7) // returns "8675309"

Excel also provides the CONCATENATE function, but it doesn’t offer special features. I wouldn’t bother with it and would instead concatenate directly with the ampersand (&) character in a formula.

EXACT

The EXACT function allows you to compare two text strings in a case-sensitive manner.

UPPER, LOWER, PROPER

To change the case of text, use the UPPER, LOWER, and PROPER function

=UPPER("Sue BROWN") // returns "SUE BROWN"
=LOWER("Sue BROWN") // returns "sue brown"
=PROPER("Sue BROWN") // returns "Sue Brown"

Video: How to change case with formulas

TEXT

Last but definitely not least is the TEXT function. The text function lets you apply number formatting to numbers (including dates, times, etc.) as text. This is especially useful when you need to embed a formatted number in a message, like «Sale ends on [date]».

=TEXT(B5,"$#,##0.00") 
=TEXT(B6,"000000")
="Save "&TEXT(B7,"0%")
="Sale ends "&TEXT(B8,"mmm d")

More: Detailed examples of custom number formatting.

Dynamic Array functions

Dynamic arrays are new in Excel 365, and are a major upgrade to Excel’s formula engine. As part of the dynamic array update, Excel includes new functions which directly leverage dynamic arrays to solve problems that are traditionally hard to solve with conventional formulas. If you are using Excel 365, make sure you are aware of these new functions:

Function	Purpose
FILTER	Filter data and return matching records
RANDARRAY	Generate array of random numbers
SEQUENCE	Generate array of sequential numbers
SORT	Sort range by column
SORTBY	Sort range by another range or array
UNIQUE	Extract unique values from a list or range
XLOOKUP	Modern replacement for VLOOKUP
XMATCH	Modern replacement for the MATCH function

Video: New dynamic array functions in Excel (about 3 minutes).

Quick navigation

ABS, AGGREGATE, AND, AVERAGE, AVERAGEIF, AVERAGEIFS, CEILING, CHAR, CHOOSE, CLEAN, CODE, COLUMN, COLUMNS, CONCAT, CONCATENATE, CONVERT, COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTBLANK, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, DATE, DATEDIF, DAY, EDATE, EOMONTH, EXACT, FIND, FLOOR, GETPIVOTDATA, HLOOKUP, HOUR, HYPERLINK, IF, IFERROR, IFNA, IFS, INDEX, INDIRECT, INT, ISBLANK, ISERROR, ISEVEN, ISFORMULA, ISLOGICAL, ISNUMBER, ISODD, ISTEXT, LARGE, LEFT, LEN, LOOKUP, LOWER, MATCH, MAX, MAXIFS, MID, MIN, MINIFS, MINUTE, MOD, MODE, MONTH, MROUND, NETWORKDAYS, NOT, NOW, OFFSET, OR, PROPER, RAND, RANDBETWEEN, RANK, REPLACE, RIGHT, ROUND, ROUNDDOWN, ROUNDUP, ROW, ROWS, SEARCH, SECOND, SMALL, SUBSTITUTE, SUBTOTAL, SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, SUMPRODUCT, TEXT, TEXTJOIN, TIME, TODAY, TRANSPOSE, TRIM, UPPER, VLOOKUP, WEEKDAY, WEEKNUM, WORKDAY, YEAR, YEARFRAC 

Introduction

Almost every business needs software and tools to operate smoothly and effectively. These tools save time and resources as they provide immediate results for business analysis. Several tools are available for various businesses, but Microsoft Excel is the most common and efficient tool every business nowadays needs. Companies are primarily familiar with advanced excel formula because of its solid computational powers.

We can use Microsoft Excel for preparing budgets, sales reports, balance sheets, or editorial calendars. Its purpose is to store, maintain, and analyze data; therefore, we can use it to draw financial conclusions or make business decisions. Excel’s advanced formulas and functions make all this possible.

Application Of Excel

Excel is one of the most essential and helpful software, and you can do the following things with its prominent features:

1. Prepare Magnificent Charts

Microsoft Excel is not limited to data entry. We can also use it to prepare charts using advanced excel formula and function. Excel supports different charts that help display data in meaningful ways to the audience.

The pie charts, clustered columns, and graphs make it much easier to analyze and interpret information in little time. In addition, Excel is a versatile tool for making business reports and effective marketing material.

2. Conditional Formatting with Visual Support

The Conditional Formatting feature in Excel helps make patterns and trends in your data more apparent. It enables users to highlight cells based on specified conditions and show color scales, data bars, icons, etc. Conditional formatting adds visual emphasis to different aspects of a data range.

3. Trend Identification

Statistics significantly impact a business’s strategy development by identifying and projecting trends. The user can assign charts, graphs, clustered columns, and other visual representations with average lines. The average line helps the user understand the data pool’s key trend. It can easily interpret the key points behind the format.

The trend or average lines can extend further using projection. These projections in the visual representation help to foresee future trends. The forecast can help build new strategies to take the business to a new development level.

4. A Single Solution for all Types of Data

The versatile software can handle almost any type of data. It can be spreadsheets, documents, and even images. It is more accessible when all the data is under a single roof for easy work. Importing any data takes mere minutes in Excel. The Insert Tab helps the user to do the conglomeration of data.

The cloud feature of Excel has taken its uses to a different level. It offers access to Office 365 Business and its premium version from multiple devices, which makes business better. The coordination of documents and sheets with this program makes remote working possible.

Advanced Excel Formula and Functions

Understand the working of the top 25 Useful Advanced Excel Formula and Function:

1. VLOOKUP

VLOOKUP in Excel stands for Vertical Lookup. It is an Excel function to find specific information in a vertical pattern across a table or Excel spreadsheet.

Vlookup Syntax:

For example, you have a table consisting of a list of employee IDs, names, and the departments of company employees. The formula to find the Department of Persons having Employee ID 1003 is,

=VLOOKUP(E6,A6:C10,3,0)

Result = Operations

2. Sum Function

The SUM function in Excel provides the sum or addition of values of a selected cell range. The values can be numbers, ranges, arrays, and cell references. The values can be numbers, ranges, arrays, and cell references. The SUM function can add up to 255 values.

SUM Function Syntax:

For example, if you want to find the sum of Gross sales on electronic equipment made by certain countries, the formula is =SUM(E6:E11)

Result= 172976

3. MAX Function

The MAX function in Excel provides the largest or maximum numeric value in the cell range. It ignores empty cells, text values, and the logical values TRUE and FALSE.

MAX Function Syntax:

For example, if we want to find the highest marks from a list of student’s scores, the formula is =MAX(B6:B11)

Result= 86

4. MIN Function

The MIN function in Excel provides the minimum or lowest numeric value in the cell range. It ignores empty cells, text values, and the logical values TRUE and FALSE.

For example, if we want to find the lowest marks from a list of student’s marks, the formula is =MIN(B6:B11)

Result= 20

5. IF Function

The IF() function is a logical function in Excel that evaluates a specific condition and provides a particular value if the condition is True and another value if it’s False.

For example, if we want to test if a student has passed or failed an exam test based on criteria, the formula is =IF(B6>=35,”Pass”,”Fail”)

Result = Pass

Drag the formula into the other cells to get the result for the remaining cells.

6. SUMIF Function

SUMIF in Excel function provides the sum of values of a specific cell range based on the given criteria.

For example, if you want to add Gross sales made by Canada on specific electronic equipment, the formula is  =SUMIF(B6:B11,G6,E6:E11)

Result = 62586

7. COUNT Function

The COUNT in Excel is a function that counts the number of cells that consists of numeric values in a selected range and ignores all the other entries in the range.

COUNT function Syntax:

For example, if you have a list of countries with numerical codes and we want to find the total number of numerical codes from the given list, the formula is =COUNT(A6:A20)

Result = 4

8. COUNTIF Function

The COUNTIF function in Excel counts cells in a given range that meet a single criterion. We can use COUNTIF to count cells that contain numbers, texts, and dates.

For example, if we want to count the number of apples from a given list of fruits, the formula is =COUNTIF(A6:A12,”Apples”)

Result= 3

9. AND Function

The AND function in Excel is a logical function that tests multiple criteria and returns either TRUE or FALSE.

For example, if we want to find if a given value is less than 60 and greater than 30, the formula is =AND(A6>30,A6<60)

Result = TRUE

10. OR function

The function OR in Excel is structured as =OR(Condition1, Condition2,…) and performs logical tests by checking if any of the given conditions are true. If at least one of the conditions is true, the function returns TRUE; otherwise, it returns FALSE.

For example, if we want to test if a given color is White or Black, the formula will be

=OR(A6=”White”,A6=”Black”)

Result = TRUE

11. RIGHT Function

The RIGHT function in Excel provides the number of characters from the right of a given text string.

For example, we want to extract the name of students from a given list of Roll No. & Names, the formula is

=RIGHT(A6,4)

Result = Sam

12. LEFT Function

The LEFT function in Excel provides the number of characters from the left of a given text string.

For example, we want to extract the Roll no. of students from a given list of Roll No. & Names, the formula is

=LEFT(A6,3)

Result = 100

13. CONCATENATION Function

CONCATENATE in excel is an essential function that allows users to combine data from different cells and display the result in a single cell.

For instance, consider you have an Excel file with a long list of first and last names of clients written in different columns, and you want to display their full names in one column.

=CONCATENATE(A6,” “,B6)

Result = Brad Pitt

14. ROUND Function

The ROUND function in Excel rounds up a numeric value to a given number of digits.

For example, to round the number 4.7835 to a given number of digits, the formula is =ROUND(A6,B6)

Result = 4.8

15. PROPER Function

The PROPER function in Excel capitalizes or changes the letters to uppercase in a given text string. The function does not affect numbers, spaces, and punctuation marks.

For example, if we want to change the appearance of a given text, the formula is

=PROPER(A6)

Result = Cherry

16. NOW Function

The Excel NOW function provides the date and time after making the data entry. The function edits the date and time every time the user opens or changes a worksheet.

For example, the formula =NOW() gives the current date and time; =NOW()-7 gives the date and time 7 days before we made the entry, and =NOW()+7 gives the date and time 7 days ahead of the day when we made the entry.

17. Change the case

We can change the text’s case using Excel’s UPPER() and LOWER() functions.

SYNTAX

For example, if you have a list of employee names with their department and want to change the letter case of their department, the formula is

In case of lowercase, the formula is =LOWER(B6)

In case of uppercase, the formula is =UPPER(B6)

18. TRIM

The TRIM function in Excel removes any unwanted(extra) spaces between texts or at the beginning and end of a text.

For example, the formula =TRIM(A6), removes any extra space from the given text

The result is Mr. James Charles

19. Choose()

The CHOOSE function in Excel provides a value from a list using a given index number or position.

For example, if we want to give a rating to a hotel using the given score, the formula is =CHOOSE(B6,”Poor”,”OK”,”Good”,”Excellent”)

Result = OK

20. REPT()

The REPT function in Excel repeats characters a specified number of times.

For example, if we want the character A to appear twice, the formula is =REPT(A6,B6)

Result = AA

21. TYPE()

The TYPE function in excel provides a numeric value representing the data type. The numeric value for different data is: text = 2, number = 1, logical value = 4, error = 16, and array = 64.

22. RANDBETWEEN()

This advanced excel formula lets you generate a random number between the two given values. It helps when you want to simulate results or behavior in spreadsheets.

For example, if you want to generate a random number between 2 and 12, the formula is =RANDBETWEEN(A6,B6)

Result = 9

Note: The RANDBETWEEN function recalculates the values each time you open or updates a worksheet.

23. Unit conversion by CONVERT()

The CONVERT advanced excel formula converts a number from one measurement unit to another.

For example, the CONVERT can convert miles to meters, kilograms to pounds, square feet to the acre, hours to a minute, and more.

24. PV function

The PV function is a advanced excel formula that is a versatile virtual financial function that can calculate the rate, periods for investment, payment per period, future value, and other arguments based on the input of the variables.

For example, if we want to calculate the loan amount from a given Interest rate, monthly payment, loan term, and compounding period, the formula is =PV(B5/B8,B7,B6).

Result = $ 5211.07

25. WEEKNUM Function

The WEEKNUM function in Excel evaluates a given date and provides a week number that corresponds to the week of the year. It starts counting on the week containing January 1.

For example, if you want to calculate the week number for the date 4th March 2023, the formula is =WEEKNUM(A6)

Result = 9

Conclusion

Microsoft Excel Advanced Formulas and Functions enable users to perform tasks as simple as adding numbers, calculating mortgage payments, creating financial models, and solving math and engineering problems.

Based on Excel’s trend results, marketing and product management must rely on foresight. As a result, the opportunities are limitless.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

Q1. What are the top 10 Excel formulas?
Answer: The Top 10 Excel formulas are:

#1 =VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, colu_index_num, [range_lookup])

#2 =SUM(Number1, [Number2],…)

#3 =IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

#4 =SUMIF(range, criteria, [sum_range])

#5 =OR(logical1, [logical2],…)

#6 =CONCATENATE(text1, [text2],…)

#7 =CONVERT(number, from_unit, to_unit)

#8 =PV(rate, nper, pmt, [fv], [type])

#9 =COUNTIF(range, criteria)

#10 =AND(logical1, [logical2],…)

Q2. What is the importance of studying advanced spreadsheet skills
Answer: Advanced spreadsheet skills help connect with the real-world application of mathematics. It allows users to organize, prepare graphs, calculate, and analyze data. These skills are essential to execute any task related to finance, budgeting, or to prepare student reports.

Q3. What are the advanced Excel skills for accountants?
Answer: The Advanced Excel skills that would be helpful for accountants are:

1. Vlookup to find data from an extensive database
2. Creating Pivot tables to prepare reports
3. Using Data Validation to create drop-down lists
4. Using Proper Cell Referencing
5. Logical Analysis using IF, AND, and OR functions

Recommended Articles

Here are some articles that will help you to get more detail about Advanced Excel Formula and Function.

1. Best Excel Shortcuts
2. Basic Excel Formula
3. Drop Down List in Excel
4. Compatibility Mode in Excel

List of Top 10 Advanced Excel Formulas & Functions

You can download this Advanced Excel Formulas Template here – Advanced Excel Formulas Template

#1 – VLOOKUP Formula in Excel

This advanced Excel function is one of the most used formulae in Excel. It is mainly due to the simplicity of this formula and its application in looking up a certain value from other tables, which has one standard variable across these tables. For example, suppose you have two tables detailing a company’s employee salary and name, with “Employee ID” being a primary column. You want to get the salary from Table B in Table A.

You can use VLOOKUPThe VLOOKUP excel function searches for a particular value and returns a corresponding match based on a unique identifier. A unique identifier is uniquely associated with all the records of the database. For instance, employee ID, student roll number, customer contact number, seller email address, etc., are unique identifiers.
read more as below.

It will result in the table below when we apply this advanced Excel formula in other cells of the “Employee Salary” column.

Drag the formula to the rest of the cells.

There are three major delimitations of VLOOKUP:

1. You cannot have a primary column on the right of the column for which you want to populate the value from another table. The “Employee Salary” column cannot be before the “Employee ID.”
2. In the duplicated values in the primary column in Table B, the first value will get populated in the cell.
3. If you insert a new column in the database (e.g., insert a new column before “Employee Salary” in Table B), the output of the formula could be different based on the position that you have mentioned in the formula (in the above case, the result would be blank).

#2 – INDEX Formula in Excel

This advanced Excel formula is used to get the value of a cell in a given table by specifying the number of rows, columns, or both. E.g., to get an employee’s name at the 5th observation. Below is the data.

We can use the advanced Excel formula below:

We can use the same INDEX formula in getting values along the row. So, for example, when using both row and column numbers, the syntax would look like this:

The above formula would return as “Rajesh Ved.”

Note: If you insert another row into the 5th row, the formula will return as “Chandan Kale.” Hence, the output would depend on any changes in the data table over time.

#3 – MATCH Formula in Excel

This Excel advanced formula returns the row or column number when a specific string or number is in the given range. In the below example, we are trying to find “Rajesh Ved” in the “Employee Name” column.

The formula would be as given below:

The MATCH functionThe MATCH function looks for a specific value and returns its relative position in a given range of cells. The output is the first position found for the given value. Being a lookup and reference function, it works for both an exact and approximate match. For example, if the range A11:A15 consists of the numbers 2, 9, 8, 14, 32, the formula “MATCH(8,A11:A15,0)” returns 3. This is because the number 8 is at the third position.
read more would return 5 as the value.

The 3^rd argument is used for the exact match. You can also use +1 and -1 based on your requirements.

Note: One can combine INDEX and MATCH to overcome the limitation of VLOOKUP.

#4 – IF AND Formula in Excel

There are many instances when one needs to create flags based on some constraints. We all are familiar with the basic syntax of IF. We use this advanced excel IF functionIF function in Excel evaluates whether a given condition is met and returns a value depending on whether the result is “true” or “false”. It is a conditional function of Excel, which returns the result based on the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the given criteria.
read more to create a new field based on some existing field constraints. But what if we need to consider multiple columns while creating a flag? E.g., in the below case, we want to flag all the employees whose salary is greater than 50,000. But “Employee ID” is greater than 3.

We would use the IF AND formula in such cases. Please find below the screenshot for the same.

It would return the result as 0.

We can have many conditions or constraints to create a flag based on multiple columns using AND.

#5 – IF OR Formula in Excel

Similarly, we can use the OR function in ExcelThe OR function in Excel is used to test various conditions, allowing you to compare two values or statements in Excel. If at least one of the arguments or conditions evaluates to TRUE, it will return TRUE. Similarly, if all of the arguments or conditions are FALSE, it will return FASLE.read more instead of AND if we need to satisfy one of the many conditions.

If any condition is satisfied in the above cases, we will have the cell populated as 1, else 0. We can substitute 1 or 0 with some substrings with double quotes (“”).

#6 – SUMIF Formula in Excel

In some analyses, you might need to filter observations when applying the sum or count function. In such cases, this advanced Excel SUMIF function in excelThe SUMIF Excel function calculates the sum of a range of cells based on given criteria. The criteria can include dates, numbers, and text. For example, the formula “=SUMIF(B1:B5, “<=12”)” adds the values in the cell range B1:B5, which are less than or equal to 12.
read more is at our rescue. It filters all the observations based on certain conditions in this advanced excel formula and sums up them. E.g., What if we want to know the sum of salaries of only those employees with employee IDs greater than 3?

By applying the SUMIFS formulaSUMIFS is an enhanced version of the SUMIF formula in Excel that enables you to sum any range of data by matching several criteria. read more:

The formula returns the results as 322000.

We can also count the number of employees in the organization having an employee ID greater than 3 using COUNTIF instead of SUMIF.

#7 – CONCATENATE Formula in Excel

This Excel advanced function is one of the formulas used with multiple variants. This advanced Excel formula helps us join several text strings into one text string. For example, if we want to show “Employee ID” and “Employee Name” in a single column.

We can use this CONCATENATE formula here.

The above formula will result in “1Aman Gupta”.

We can have one more variant by putting a single hyphen between ID and NAME. E.g., CONCATENATE(B3,”-“,C3) will result in “1-Aman Gupta”. We can also use this in VLOOKUP when LOOKUP in ExcelThe LOOKUP excel function searches a value in a range (single row or single column) and returns a corresponding match from the same position of another range (single row or single column). The corresponding match is a piece of information associated with the value being searched.
read more value is a mixture of more than one variable.

#8 – LEFT, MID, and RIGHT Formula in Excel

We can use this advanced Excel formula to extract a specific substring from a given string. One could use it based on our requirements. E.g., If we want to remove the first 5 characters from “Employee Name,” we can use the LEFT formula in ExcelThe left function returns the number of characters from the start of the string. For example, if we use this function as =LEFT ( «ANAND»,2), the result will be AN.read more with the column name and second parameter as 5.

The output is given below:

The application of the RIGHT formula in ExcelRight function is a text function which gives the number of characters from the end from the string which is from right to left. For example, if we use this function as =RIGHT ( “ANAND”,2) this will give us ND as the result.read more is also the same. It is just that we would be looking at the character from the right of the string. However, in the case of a MID function in excelThe mid function in Excel is a text function that finds strings and returns them from any mid-part of the spreadsheet. read more, we must give the required text string’s starting position and the string’s length.

#9 – OFFSET Formula in Excel

This advanced Excel function, combined with SUM or AVERAGE, could give a dynamic touch to the calculations. It is best used when we insert continuous rows into an existing database. OFFSET ExcelThe OFFSET function in excel returns the value of a cell or a range (of adjacent cells) which is a particular number of rows and columns from the reference point. read more provides a range where we need to mention reference cells, number of rows, and columns. E.g., If we want to calculate the average of the first 5 employees in the company where we have the salary of employees sorted by employee ID, we can do the following. The calculation below will always give us a salary.

• It will give us the sum of salaries of the first 5 employees.

#10 – TRIM Formula in Excel

This advanced Excel formula is used to clean up the unimportant spaces in the text. E.g., if we want to remove spaces at the beginning of some name, we can use it by using the TRIM function in ExcelThe Trim function in Excel does exactly what its name implies: it trims some part of any string. The function of this formula is to remove any space in a given string. It does not remove a single space between two words, but it does remove any other unwanted spaces.read more as below:

The resultant output would be “Chandan Kale” without space before Chandan.

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to Advanced Formulas in Excel. We discuss the top 10 Advanced Excel formulas and Advanced Excel functions with a downloadable template. You may learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

• Basic Excel Formulas
• VBA MID Function
• Match in Excel
• VLookup with IF