Functions

Discover how functions in Excel help you save time. If you are new to functions in Excel, we recommend you
to read our introduction to Formulas and Functions first.
1 Count and Sum: The most used functions in Excel are the functions that count and sum. You can count and
sum based on one criteria or multiple criteria.
2 Logical: Learn how to use Excel's logical functions, such as IF, AND, OR and NOT.
3 Cell References: Cell references in Excel are very important. Understand the difference between relative,
absolute and mixed reference, and you are on your way to success.
4 Date & Time: To enter a date, use the "/" or "-" characters. To enter a time, use the ":" (colon).
5 Text: Excel has many functions to offer when it comes to manipulating text strings.
6 Lookup & Reference: Learn all about Excel's lookup & reference functions, such as VLOOKUP,
HLOOKUP, MATCH, INDEX and CHOOSE.
7 Financial: This chapter illustrates Excel's most popular financial functions.
8 Statistical: An overview of some very useful statistical functions in Excel.
9 Round: This chapter illustrates three functions to round numbers in Excel. ROUND, ROUNDUP and
ROUNDDOWN.
10 Formula Errors: This chapter teaches you how to deal with some common formula errors.
11 Array Formulas: This chapter helps you understand array formulas in Excel.

Functions+
Become an Excel pro! You can find related examples and functions on the right side of each chapter. Below
you can find a complete overview.
1 Count and Sum: Countif | Count Blank/Nonblank Cells | Count Characters | Not Equal To | Count Cells with
Text | Sum | Running Total | Sumif | Sumproduct
2 Logical: If | Comparison Operators | Or | Roll the Dice | Ifs | Contains Specific Text | Switch | If Cell is
Blank | Absolute Value | And
3 Cell References: Copy a Formula | 3D-reference | Name Box | External References | Hyperlinks | Union and
Intersect | Percent Change | Add a Column | Absolute Reference | Address
4 Date & Time: DateDif | Today's Date | Date and Time Formats | Calculate Age | Time
Difference | Weekdays | Days until Birthday | Last Day of the Month | Add or Subtract Time | Quarter | Day of
the Year | Days between Dates
5 Text: Separate Strings | Count Words | Text to Columns | Find | Search | Change Case | Remove
Spaces | Compare Text | Substitute vs Replace | Text | Concatenate | Substring
6 Lookup & Reference: Vlookup | Tax Rates | Index and Match | Two-way Lookup | Offset | Case-sensitive
Lookup | Left Lookup | Locate Maximum Value | Indirect | Two-column Lookup | Closest Match | Compare
Two Columns | Xlookup | Xmatch
7 Financial: PMT | Loans with Different Durations | Investment or Annuity | Compound
Interest | CAGR | Loan Amortization Schedule | NPV | IRR | Depreciation | Profit Margin
8 Statistical: Average | Negative Numbers to Zero | Random Numbers | Rank | Percentiles and Quartiles | Box
and Whisker Plot | AverageIf | Forecast | MaxIfs and MinIfs | Weighted Average | Mode | Standard
Deviation | Frequency
9 Round: Chop off Decimals | Nearest Multiple | Even and Odd | Mod | Rounding Times
10 Formula Errors: IfError | IsError | Aggregate | Circular Reference | Formula Auditing | Sum Range with
Errors | Floating Point Errors | IFNA
11 Array Formulas: Count Errors | Count Unique Values | Count with Or Criteria | Sum Every Nth Row | Sum
Largest Numbers | Sum with Or Criteria | Most Frequently Occurring Word | Dynamic Arrays | LET
function | Array Manipulation | Lambda | TextSplit

Best of Functions+
Join more than 1 million monthly learners. Explore the best of what we offer, master new Excel functions and
become great at Excel. Happy learning!

1 Vlookup: The VLOOKUP function is one of the most popular functions in Excel. This page contains many
easy to follow VLOOKUP examples.
2 Percent Change: The percent change formula is used very often in Excel. For example, to calculate the
Monthly Change and Total Change.
3 Loan Amortization Schedule: This example teaches you how to create a loan amortization schedule in Excel.
4 Random Numbers: Excel has two very useful functions when it comes to generating random numbers.
RAND and RANDBETWEEN.
5 If: The IF function is one of the most used functions in Excel. This page contains many easy to follow IF
examples.
6 Standard Deviation: This page explains how to calculate the standard deviation based on the entire
population using the STDEV.P function in Excel and how to estimate the standard deviation based on a sample
using the STDEV.S function in Excel.
7 Count Unique Values: This example shows you how to create an array formula that counts unique values.
8 Countif: The powerful COUNTIF function in Excel counts cells based on one criteria. This page contains
many easy to follow COUNTIF examples.
9 Offset: The OFFSET function in Excel returns a cell or range of cells that is a specified number of rows and
columns from a cell or range of cells.
10 Compare Two Columns: To compare two columns, use IF, ISERROR and MATCH in Excel. You can
display the duplicates or the unique values.
11 Compound Interest: What's compound interest and what's the formula for compound interest in Excel? This
example gives you the answers to these questions.
12 Sumif: The powerful SUMIF function in Excel sums cells based on one criteria. This page contains many
easy to follow SUMIF examples.
13 Concatenate: Use CONCATENATE, CONCAT, TEXTJOIN or the & operator in Excel to concatenate
(join) two or more text strings.
14 Weighted Average: To calculate a weighted average in Excel, simply use SUMPRODUCT and SUM.
15 Index and Match: Use INDEX and MATCH in Excel and impress your boss. Instead of using VLOOKUP,
use INDEX and MATCH. To perform advanced lookups, you'll need INDEX and MATCH.
16 Sumproduct: To calculate the sum of the products of corresponding numbers in one or more ranges, use
Excel's powerful SUMPRODUCT function.
17 Contains Specific Text: To check if a cell contains specific text, use ISNUMBER and SEARCH in Excel.
There's no CONTAINS function in Excel.
18 Pmt: The PMT function in Excel calculates the payment for a loan based on constant payments and a
constant interest rate. This page contains many easy to follow PMT examples.
19 Calculate Age: To calculate the age of a person in Excel, use DATEDIF and TODAY. The DATEDIF
function has three arguments.
20 Indirect: Use the INDIRECT function in Excel to convert a text string into a valid reference. You can use
the & operator to create text strings.
21 CAGR: There's no CAGR function in Excel. However, simply use the RRI function in Excel to calculate
the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of an investment over a period of years.
22 If Cell is Blank: Use the IF function and an empty string in Excel to check if a cell is blank. Use IF and
ISBLANK to produce the exact same result.
23 Average: The AVERAGE function in Excel calculates the average (arithmetic mean) of a group of
numbers.
24 Substring: There's no SUBSTRING function in Excel. Use MID, LEFT, RIGHT, FIND, LEN,
SUBSTITUTE, REPT, TRIM and MAX in Excel to extract substrings.
25 Sum: Use the SUM function in Excel to sum a range of cells, an entire column or non-contiguous cells.
26 Remove Spaces: The TRIM function in Excel removes leading spaces, extra spaces and trailing spaces. Use
the SUBSTITUTE function to remove all spaces or non-breaking spaces.
27 Comparison Operators: Use comparison operators in Excel to check if two values are equal to each other, if
one value is greater than another value, etc.
28 NPV: The correct NPV formula in Excel uses the NPV function to calculate the present value of a series of
future cash flows and subtracts the initial investment.
29 AverageIf: The AVERAGEIF function in Excel calculates the average of cells that meet one criteria.
AVERAGEIFS calculates the average of cells that meet multiple criteria.
30 Xlookup: If you have Excel 365 or Excel 2021, use XLOOKUP instead of VLOOKUP. The XLOOKUP
function is easier to use and has some additional advantages.
31 Hyperlinks: Use the 'Insert Hyperlink' dialog box in Excel to create a hyperlink to an existing file, a web
page or a place in this document. You can also use the HYPERLINK function.
32 Forecast: The FORECAST.LINEAR function in Excel predicts a future value along a linear trend. The
FORECAST.ETS function in Excel predicts a future value using Exponential Triple Smoothing, which takes
into account seasonality.
33 Add or Subtract Time: Use the TIME function in Excel to add or subtract hours, minutes and seconds. To
add up times in Excel, simply use the SUM function.
34 Copy a Formula: Simply use CTRL + c and CTRL + v to copy and paste a formula in Excel. Use the fill
handle in Excel to quickly copy a formula to other cells.
35 Time Difference: Calculating the difference between two times in Excel can be tricky. Times are handled
internally as numbers between 0 and 1.
36 IRR: Use the IRR function in Excel to calculate a project's internal rate of return. The internal rate of return
is the discount rate that makes the net present value equal to zero.
37 Not Equal To: In Excel, <> means not equal to. The <> operator in Excel checks if two values are not equal
to each other. Let's take a look at a few examples.
38 Today's date: To enter today's date in Excel, use the TODAY function. To enter the current date and time,
use the NOW function.
39 Absolute Reference: An absolute reference in Excel refers to a fixed location on a worksheet. When you
copy a formula, an absolute reference never changes.
40 Running Total: This page teaches you how to create a running total (cumulative sum) in Excel. A running
total changes each time new data is added to a list.
41 Rank: The RANK function in Excel returns the rank of a number in a list of numbers. Use RANK.AVG to
return the average rank if more than one number has the same rank.
42 Weekdays: Use WEEKDAY, NETWORKDAYS and WORKDAY to create cool weekday formulas in
Excel. Are you ready to improve your Excel skills?
43 Last Day of the Month: To get the date of the last day of the month in Excel, use the EOMONTH (End of
Month) function.
44 DateDif: To calculate the number of days, months or years between two dates in Excel, use the DATEDIF
function. The DATEDIF function has three arguments.
45 Frequency: The FREQUENCY function in Excel calculates how often values occur within the ranges you
specify in a bin table.
46 Two-column Lookup: This example teaches you how to perform a two-column lookup in Excel.
47 Circular Reference: A circular reference in Excel occurs when a formula directly or indirectly refers to its
own cell. This is not possible.
48 Named Range: Create a named range or a named constant and use these names in your Excel formulas. This
way you can make your formulas easier to understand.
49 Text to Columns: To separate the contents of one Excel cell into separate columns, you can use the 'Convert
Text to Columns Wizard'.
50 Dynamic Arrays: Dynamic array formulas, entered into a single cell, fill multiple cells. This behavior in
Excel 365/2021 is called spilling.