Excel nested IFs stringing together FALSE values and rendering #VALUE - excel

Question

I have the following nested IFs (I know the comments aren't Excel comments, but using them in my text editor helps me through the logic)
// start by seeing if there is an order date
=IF(
$C46<>"",
//there is an order date. have the parts begun to arrive # P2?
IF(
$D46<>"",
//parts have begun to arrive # P2. Have they finished transferring to Brevard?
IF(
$F46<>"",
// product has finished transferring to warehouse. has it begun to ship?
IF(
$G46<>"",
// product has begun to ship. Has it shipped completely?
IF(
$H46<>"",
// has shipped completely. this ends the cycle
IF(
AND(J$5>=$G46,J$5<=$H46),
"S",
"error - shipped completely"
),
// has NOT shipped completely. Here's where to TODAY() formula comes in
IF(
AND(J$5>=$G46,J$5<=TODAY()),
"S",
"error - began shipping, but not complete"
)
)
// product has NOT begun to ship; HAS completely transferred to Brevard. It's in inventory until shipping begins
IF(
AND(J$5>$F46,J$5<=TODAY()),
"I",
"error - finished transferring to Brevard. in Inventory. Not begun to ship"
)
),
// product has begun assembly, but has not finished transferring to Brevard.
IF(
AND(J$5<=$D46,J$5<=TODAY()),
"A",
"error - assembly has begun, has not finished transferring"
)
),
//there is an order date, but parts have not arrived at P2
IF(
AND(J$5<=C46,J$5<=TODAY()),
"O",
"error - order has been taken, assembly has not begun"
)
),
// there is no order date
""
)
When rendering all this, Excel is stringing together the FALSE values and as a result, they are turned into #VALUE, which ruins the entire formula.
What am I doing wrong? If I remove the FALSE values, it still renders #VALUE. I don't understand how to tell it to do exactly nothing, especially multiple times in one algorithm.

Answer 1

You are having too many ELSE in the formula. Thus, after some debugging this is what you get:
at some point. Thus, the #VALUE appears. In general, the nested if syntax in Excel is like this:
Thus, every new =IF is in the ELSE place. Thus, only one ELSE is written (number 5 from the screenshot above)
IF function – nested formulas and avoiding pitfalls
F9 is a good friend in the evaluation of a big formula. Once you select the formula, select a whole internal formula and press F9 to see the result.