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Tips on how to Use IF-THEN Statements in Excel

July 26, 2023

To take pleasure in Excel absolutely, it’s essential to know how one can use the IF-THEN perform.

The IF-THEN is certainly one of Excel’s most spectacular capabilities, as you should use it to investigate information, draw inferences and make selections beneath sure preset circumstances. However what precisely are IF-THEN statements, and how are you going to begin utilizing them?

On this information, we’ll present you how one can use IF-THEN statements to enhance your mastery of Excel.

Desk of Contents

What are IF-THEN Statements in Excel?

IF-THEN statements are capabilities in Excel that return a singular set of actions after your preset situation is met.

Merely put, while you use the “If” assertion, you’re setting a situation and instructing Excel to carry out a singular set of actions when your preset situation is true and one other when the situation is fake.

To make use of the “If “ perform in Excel, you begin by writing the equal signal (=), adopted by “if,” then your situation, and a two-part syntax instructing this system on what to do when your necessities are or aren’t met.

The syntax often appears like this:

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

The “If” perform is useful, particularly when you might have a big information quantity and wish to keep away from the stress of computing formulation for every information. Right here’s an instance of how easy it’s to make use of IF-THEN statements in Excel:

On this instance, I’ve a spreadsheet containing three columns of information. The place column A accommodates title information, and columns B and C, comprise integer information.

Utilizing the If perform, I set a situation utilizing the syntax:

=IF(B1>C1, “sure,” “no”)

This perform initiates a command telling the Excel program to check if the information worth in cell B1 is larger than the information worth in cell C1.

I’ve merely instructed Excel to offer me a response of “sure” beneath the situation that the worth of cell B1 is larger than cell C1 and a response of “no” beneath the situation that the worth of cell B1 is lower than the worth of cell C1.

I then prolonged this perform to the opposite respective cells utilizing a easy autofill trick. Try our information on using Excel like a pro for some useful tips to make your Excel expertise simpler.

It’s necessary to notice that the IF-THEN assertion solely permits you to set a situation for 2 variables. Which means you’ll be able to solely set circumstances together with, say, the information worth in cells B1 and C1 or a situation together with information values in cell B1 and an outlined integer or textual content.

For instance, you’ll be able to set a situation instructing Excel to return a response of “Sure” if the worth in cell B1 is larger than the worth of cell B2 as proven within the instance above. Or, you’ll be able to set a situation asking Excel to return the response ”sure” or “no” if the worth of cell B1 is larger or lower than 1000.

Right here’s a fast instance:

Right here, I instructed Excel to return the response “sure” if the information worth in cell C1 is larger than 5000 and “no” if the worth is lower than 5000.

Right here’s the response Excel returned:

As talked about earlier, the IF-THEN assertion is a strong Excel perform with quite a few advantages. Studying to make use of this perform correctly will astronomically enhance your mastery of Excel.

The Advantages of IF-THEN Statements In Excel

Listed below are some advantages that IF-THEN statements in Excel can give you:

Tips on how to Use IF-THEN Statements in Excel

Now that you understand what an IF-THEN assertion is and the way it can profit you, the following step is understanding how one can use it correctly.

There are two strategies to make use of the perform, and we’ll begin with the fundamentals. First, right here’s a easy step-by-step process for writing IF-THEN statements in Excel.

Step 1: Click on on the cell you want to format, say cell A1.

Step 2: Write the IF-THEN perform components immediately into the cell field.

Or within the components field.

Step 3: Start writing your circumstances and anticipated responses to stated circumstances.

Keep in mind: All the time begin the components with an “equal” signal and enter the suitable punctuation so that you don’t get an error message after inputting the perform.

Right here’s another step-by-step you should use.

Various Step 1: Click on on the “Formulation” tab within the taskbar menu of your Excel program.

Various Step 2: Click on on the “Insert Perform” possibility, which can launch a dialog menu:

Various Step 3: Choose “IF” from the checklist of choices within the dialog menu and click on “OK.” It’ll launch a dialog field.

Various Step 4: Within the dialog field, enter your situation and directions telling this system what solutions to return when the situation is met and when it isn’t met.

Be aware: It’s higher to make use of the “Insert Perform” methodology should you’re writing a easy IF-THEN perform, because it launches a components builder that may make it easier to get rid of the dangers of errors when inputting your components.

This methodology will robotically enter the suitable punctuations and codecs and solely require you to enter your circumstances and directions within the three fields of the dialog field.

Now that you know the way to start out with the IF-THEN perform, let’s overview the opposite use instances for if capabilities.

Writing IF-THEN Perform for texts

IF-THEN capabilities for texts are common IF-THEN capabilities, however on this case, the perform assessments for a string of textual content after which returns a preset response relying on whether or not the situation is fulfilled.

Utilizing the IF-THEN perform is kind of easy, and we’ve touched on it a number of instances within the examples up to now. Nevertheless, right here’s a step-by-step process for writing IF-THEN statements in Excel with textual content.

Step 1: Click on on the cell field the place you wish to insert the perform.

Step 2: Write the “equal” (=) signal.

Step 3: Begin writing the if assertion, together with the circumstances for the check and the responses to be returned.

Step 4: After writing the if assertion, click on enter.

Right here’s an instance displaying how one can generate a comment stating who handed or failed a course for a first-year class utilizing IF-THEN statements in Excel with textual content:

On this instance, utilizing the IF-THEN perform:

If(B2 = “Cross,” “Scored above 50”, “Didn’t rating above 50”)

This system was requested to return a response of “Scored above 50” or “Didn’t rating above 50” if the string of textual content in cell B2 is the same as “Cross.”

Nevertheless, we will check the opposite manner round utilizing the perform:

If(B2 <> “Cross,” “Scored above 50”, “Didn’t rating above 50”)

This system was requested to return a response of “Scored above 50” or “Didn’t rating above 50” if the string of textual content in cell B2 is just not equal to “Cross.”

Be aware: All the time insert double citation marks when stating your textual content parameters.

IF-THEN statements are case-insensitive except in any other case acknowledged.

To make an IF-THEN assertion case-sensitive, it’s essential to precede your situation parameters with the phrase “EXACT.” Utilizing the instance above, Excel will check for uppercase textual content with this components:

IF(EXACT(B2, “PASSED”), “Scored above 50”, “Didn’t rating above 50”)

Writing IF-THEN Features for Numbers

You should know the essential Excel operators and their indicators earlier than writing IF-THEN statements in Excel for numbers. Right here’s a information to Excel that may make it easier to learn the basic Excel formulas, operators, and more.

Comply with these steps.

Step 1: Click on on the cell field the place you wish to insert the perform.

Step 2: Write the “equal” (=) signal.

Step 3: Begin writing the if assertion, together with the circumstances for the check and the responses to be returned.

Step 4: After writing the if assertion, click on enter. Your components ought to seem like this:

IF(B2>=50, “Handed”, “Failed”)

Utilizing the perform above, we will write an IF-THEN assertion to verify if a pupil handed or failed a course. Right here’s an instance:

This perform units a situation to check if cell B2 accommodates an integer worth larger than or equal to 50. If this situation is met, this system will return a response of “Handed” and a “Failed” response if the situation isn’t met.

Be aware: IF-THEN capabilities don’t solely work for integers. They will additionally work for actual numbers and detrimental numbers.

Writing IF-THEN capabilities for dates

One of many distinctive types of writing IF-THEN capabilities is the date format. Many individuals might imagine they will write IF-THEN capabilities for dates like they write IF-THEN capabilities for numbers.

Sadly, that isn’t so.

For the reason that Excel program can not learn the common date format of mm/dd/yyyy, you’ll need to insert the “DATEVALUE” perform into your IF-THEN perform to make the Excel program know that you just’re testing a date situation.

Your perform ought to seem like this:

IF(B2>=DATEVALUE(“mm/dd/yyyy”), “sure,” “no”)

Right here’s a step-by-step process on how one can use this in your spreadsheet:

Step 1: In your spreadsheet, click on on the cell the place you wish to enter the perform.

Step 2: Write the “equal” (=) signal.

Step 3: Begin writing the if perform. Your syntax ought to look one thing like this:

Step 4: Click on Enter in your keyboard, and the perform will return a standing response of both “Launched” or “Unreleased.”

The perform above assessments whether or not the date in cell B2 is larger than the eleventh of April 2023. The perform will give a “Launched” or “Unreleased” response relying on whether or not the circumstances are met or not.

Be aware: You’ll be able to set the IF-THEN perform to match towards the present date by inputting the TODAY() perform into your IF-THEN perform.

That is what your perform ought to seem like:

IF(B2>TODAY(), “Launched”, “Unreleased”)

Writing IF-THEN Features for A number of Situations (Nested IF statements)

A number of IF-THEN statements or Nested if statements, as generally known as, will let you add a number of if statements into one if assertion.

A Nested if assertion will seem like this:

IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], if(logical check, [value_if_true], if(logical check, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])))

In case you wished to write down an IF-THEN perform to assign remarks to scores of first-year college students in a selected course. Right here’s how to do that in a number of steps:

Step 1: Click on on the cell field the place you wish to insert the perform

Step 2: Write the “equal” (=) signal.

Step 3: Start writing the IF-THEN perform. Your perform ought to look one thing like this:

IF(B2>90, “Wonderful”, IF(B2>=80, “Very Good”, IF(B2>=70, “Good”, IF(B2>= 50, “Truthful”, “Poor”))))

Step 4: Click on the Enter key to obtain a response to your perform.

The perform will return a response of “Wonderful” for college students who rating 90 or above; “Very Good” for college students who rating between 79 and 90; “Good” for college students who rating 69 and 80; “Truthful” for college students who rating between 49 and 70; and “Truthful” for college students that rating under 50.

Much more, if there’s an error together with your perform, writing every part as its personal components makes it simpler so that you can debug and discover any errors in your components.