Excel formula doesn't work for conditional formatting - excel

I did this formula to get a percentage of wrong documents / all the documents:
=SUM(COUNTIF(F5:M5; {"*Pending*";"*Rejected*";"*Expired*";"*Empty*"})) / COUNTIF(F5:M5;"<>*N/A*")
The thing is I want this formula to be a conditional formatting for the whole column, but I get this error:
You may not use reference operators such as unions intersections and ranges, array constants or the lambda function.
Any way to solve it? Thanks!

Two things:
Instead of checking <>*N/A*, you might use the function IfNA().
What kind of conditional formatting are you using? Some are switches (put a colour or not), and some are progressable (like changing colour bars).
For the switches, you need a formula which gives TRUE or FALSE.

You can't use array constants in CF formula, but you can enter that constants in some range and use range in formula:
=SUM(COUNTIF(F2:M2;$T$2:$T$5)) / COUNTIF(F2:M2;"<>*N/A*")

Related

Excel: Can I make an "If"-formula use the condition when "true" without having to copy the formula to [value-if-true]?

Essentially, what I would like to do is shorten the following formula: If(formula<>0;formula;"").
The "formula" in question is rather long and I was hoping there was a formula similar to Iferror() but for zeroes instead. The expected outcome of the formula is a string, so simply using Max(0;formula) won't work. It's an Index(Match()) formula, targeting an array with a few empty cells that technically meet the requirements and thus return 0's as answer.
The array used is updated frequently, so both the amount of cells used in the array and the amount of results change with every update, so I'd like to keep the result as dynamic as possible.
Is this possible or am I just better off hiding the zeroes with conditional formatting?

Conditional AGGREGATE/Median in Excel 2010

I am currently trying to pull a median from a range of data that has two conditions. Essentially the equivalent of the below AVERAGEIFS(), which I have working fine.
The AVERAGEIFS():
=AVERAGEIFS(Analysis!$F:$F,Analysis!$F:$F,">=0",Analysis!$C:$C,Dashboard!C6,Analysis!$W:$W,Dashboard!B8)
I cannot figure a way to combine MEDIAN and IF(AND( to come up with a similar formula, but think AGGREGATE might be useful!
Any help or sanity checks are appreciated!
It's true that you can't do a conditional median with AGGREGATE function, not directly, but you can easily use function number 16 (PERCENTILE.INC) or function number 17 (QUARTILE.INC) with respectively k values of 0.5 and 2.
These functions allow arrays in AGGREGATE......and have the added advantage of automatically ignoring errors, so you can use this formula for the median with conditions
=AGGREGATE(17,6,Analysis!$F:$F/(Analysis!$C:$C=Dashboard!C6)/(Analysis!$W:$W=Dashboard!B8),2)
You are creating an Array formula with MEDIAN. So a couple of rules when using Array formulas:
Do not use full column References in Array type formula. Limit the references to the data set. We can do that automatically with $F$1:INDEX(F:F,MATCH(1E+99,F:F)) this will set the reference in Column F to F1 to the last row with a number in it.
AND() does not work in array formulas, either nest IF()s or use * between the Boolean test
The formula needs to be confirmed with Ctrl+Shift+Enter instead of Enter when exiting edit mode. If done correctly then Excel will put {} around the formula.
So the formula would be something like this:
=MEDIAN(IF((Analysis!$F$1:INDEX(Analysis!$F:$F,MATCH(1E+99,Analysis!$F:$F))>=0)*(Analysis!$C$1:INDEX(Analysis!$C:$C,MATCH(1E+99,Analysis!$F:$F))=Dashboard!C6)*(Analysis!$W$1:INDEX(Analysis!$W:$W,MATCH(1E+99,Analysis!$F:$F))=Dashboard!B8),Analysis!$F$1:INDEX(Analysis!$F:$F,MATCH(1E+99,Analysis!$F:$F))))

Excel conditional formating - conditional on sum of all previous cells and total sum

I have a question with regards to conditional formatting which I simply can't seem to solve.
The aim is to format the background color for the left-most cells that are blank up until a cell contains a value - and after this there should be no more formatting in this row. You can see an image of the result I'm hoping for beneath:
So far I've managed to create the conditional formatting of the blank rows, but sadly haven't managed to create the "single-cell" formatting (in yellow) conditional of the sum of all the first cells being = 0.
I've created a formula which actually succeeds in calculating the sum of the previous cells, but this formula includes INDIRECT() which it seems that conditional formatting doesn't allow. At least I'm getting an error starting with the follow (translating the error from Danish to English might not be intuitive):
You cannot use reference operators such as.....
The formula I'm trying is the following:
=AND(SUM(A2:INDIRECT(IF(COLUMN(A2)>=27;CHAR((64-26)+COLUMN(A2))&CHAR((64-26)+COLUMN(A2))&ROW(A2);CHAR((64)+COLUMN(A2))&ROW(A2))))>0;$K2>0)
Where $K2 is the sum of the row.
Is there a way to SUM a range of cells by doing something similar to this:
=SUM(B2:CHAR((64)+COLUMN())&ROW();"")) to dynamically SUM the range from B2 to the current cell? The problem in this case is whether the part CHAR((64)+COLUMN())&ROW();"") can be converted into a legible cell such as B4 to make it work inside the =SUM() formula?
Sadly the =ADDRESS() formula cannot be used (as far as I know) as this will trigger the same error in conditional formatting as well.
For now I would like this to work with the regular Excel conditional formatting, but if anyone have a simple VBA this would also have interest - however, I would by far prefer the regular solution.
The question:
Is there a way to create a formula that doesn't trigger this error - maybe by refrasing the formula or doing something completely else?
It seems to me that this could be handled with a much simpler CFR formula like,
=and(not(sum($a2:a2)), $k2)
Am I missing something?

Excel - conditional formatting with multiple criteria doesn't work

I'm trying to color a cell red when the contents matches (at least) one of two other cells.
I've been trying this:
=AND(COUNTIF(CB17:CE17;CB55)=1,COUNTIF(CB18:CE18;CB55)=1)
and this:
=AND(COUNTIF(CB17:CE17;CB55)=1,COUNTIF(CB18:CE18;CB55)=1) = TRUE
but Excel doesn't recognize this as a formula ("There's a problem with this formula. Not trying to type a formula? ...")!
I can't get any conditional formatting formula to work with the AND operator it seems (and my Excel is the English version).
Any advice?
Edit:
some screenshots to clarify:
Error I get when using AND or the '+' operator in the formula:
Current contents of the criteria cells:
AND will be true of the expression inside results to true.
First of, you do not need to evaluate to 1 for AND to work. Secondly, you used ; and , instead of ;. You mentioned changing them to ; solved it.
So =AND( COUNTIF(...), COUNTIF(...) ) would already be enough.
Your formula would be =AND(COUNTIF(CB17:CE17;CB55);COUNTIF(CB18:CE18;CB55))
Now that being said, you want it to work for either of the values being true, that means you need an OR operator, not AND. The syntax is basically the same, just replace AND with OR. Your formula would be =OR(COUNTIF(CB17:CE17;CB55);COUNTIF(CB18:CE18;CB55))
Now since your ranges are CB17:CE17 and CB18:CE18 and they both evaluate to CB55, you could of course simply use =COUNTIF(CB17:CE18;CB55) which would be a lot simpler. I have explained the AND so you can learn from it, in case you really need to use more ranges and/or evaluate against different cells.

IF function - is there a way to avoid repeating formula

Can't believe I don't know this, but is there a way to avoid repeating a formula in an if statement if the logical test is dependent on it?
i.e.
=IF((SUMIFS formula)=0,"",SUMIFs formula)
I want to replace that SUMIFS function in the false scenario with something short that will tell it to just programmatically repeat the formula it originally tested for. Repeating the formula twice has to have detrimental effects on processing speed. Negligible, maybe, but want to go for best-practices here. Thanks.
You can force an error like #DIV/0! and then use IFERROR, e.g.
=IFERROR(1/(1/SUMIFS_formula),"")
You can assign a Name to a formula and use the Name..............See:
Assigning a name to a formula
Relevant excerpt -
For example, let's suppose we frequently use a formula like:
=SUM(A1:A100)-SUM(B1:B100) and this resides in A101 and is copied across many columns on row 101. It would be better in this case to
create a custom formula that does this in each cell on row 101. Here
is how;
1) Select cell A101 (this is vital).
2) Go to Insert>Name>Define and
in the "Names in workbook" box type: SalesLessCosts
3) Now click in
the "Refers to" box and type: =SUM(A1:A100)-SUM(B1:B100) then click
Add.
Now you can replace the formula in cell A101 with: =SalesLessCosts.
You can also copy this across row 101 and it will change its relative
references just as the formula =SUM(A1:A100)-SUM(B1:B100) would. The
reason it does this is all down to the fact we selected A101 before
going to Insert>Name>Define and used relative references in
=SUM(A1:A100)-SUM(B1:B100) when we added it to the "Refers to" box.
If all you need to do is hide zeroes, there is an easy way:
Select all cells where you wish to hide zeroes
Go into Custom Number Formatting
Set format to "General;General;"
The custom formatting has a structure of [positive numbers];[negative numbers];[zeroes]
By making the last part blank you are effectively hiding zeroes, but showing everything else.
The advantage over conditional formatting is that you can use this on any background.
A neat trick which I sometimes use is to hide the cell value completely by using a custom format of ";;;". This way you can put images inside the cells, like the conditional formatting ones, and not see the value at all.
Try using the SUBSTITUTE function like this :
=SUBSTITUTE( VLOOKUP( H4; $D$5:$E$8; 2; 0 ); $H$1; $I$1 )
Here is an example:
Here the formula I don't want to repeat twice is the VLOOKUP function.
The result of VLOOKUP is a string found in another table (ex : "Green").
I want to check if that string matches a specific string value in $H$1 (here, "Yellow").
If it does, SUBSTITUTE replaces it with$I$1 (the error string you want. Here, "FORBIDDEN").
If it doesn't, it displays the VLOOKUP result string (the normal authorized output, like "Green").
This is useful for me because my actual formula is quite long, so I don't want to write it twice.
I also dont want to use two different cells, because I'm already applying this formula on 10 columns, meaning I should add an extra 10 columns to make it work.
In some scenarios, MAX() or MIN() can do a wonderful job.
E.g., something like this:
=IF(SUMIFSformula>0,SUMIFSformula, 0)
Can be shortened to this:
=MAX(0,SUMIFSformula)
The LET formula can be used for this exact scenario. You can define the formula as a variable and then within that same cell you can reference the variable in your formula.
The LET formula format looks like this:
=LET(name,name_value,calculation)
SUMIFS Example
Here's how it would work with your SUMIF example so that you don't have to repeat the formula:
In this screenshot we have an array A1:B7. We want to sum the values (Col B) if the name in ColA is "apple".
For this we have a standard SUMIFS formula of
=SUMIFS(B1:B7,A1:A7,"apple")
The formula is showing in E2. The result is shown in E3.
To put this into the IF statement without having to repeat the formula we can use LET as shown in the screenshot.
We create a variable with the SUMIFS formula as the value of that variable. We then write our IF statement using the variable name instead of rewriting the formula multiple times.
=LET(name,name_value,calculation)
Variable name: sumapples
Variable value: SUMIFS(B1:B7,A1:A7,"apple")
Calculation: IF(sumapples=0,"",sumapples)
Put together in the LET function it looks like this:
=LET(sumapples,SUMIFS(B1:B7,A1:B7,"apple"),IF(sumapples=0,"",sumapples))
This LET function can be used in any Excel formula, and is very useful for shortening long formulas that have repetition.
Optional: Extra complexity
If you want to you can get extra complicated by naming multiple variables.
=LET(name,name_value,name2,name_value2,calculation)
Since Excel 2007, the IFERROR statement does what the OP asked. From the help file:
Description:
Returns a value you specify if a formula evaluates to an error; otherwise, returns the result of the formula. [italics mine]
Syntax:
IFERROR(value, value_if_error)
I've since realised that this was already answered by #barry houdini above.
Here is a hack - depending on whether you are just interested in the displayed value, or whether you need to use the value in another formula:
Put your SUMIF formula in the cell (without the IF part)
Create a conditional formatting rule which sets the font color to the background color when the cell value is 0
And hey presto, you get the desired result.
As I said - it's a hack, but it does prevent the double evaluation.
There is no "clean" solution that I am aware of.

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