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Video 1: Introduction to Advanced Formulas • Is equal to

Advanced formulas in Excel are available for • Is greater than or equal to
complex calculations.
• Is less than
You can access them through functions, such as the
And so on.
IF function.
Advanced formulas and functions tend to be used
with large data sets. Video 4: Nested IF functions
Advanced functions can be applied to format and While an IF function can only deal with single
look up information quickly. conditions that have 2 outcomes, you can nest
multiple IF functions to evaluate multiple conditions
Advanced formulas allow you to get new information
and outcomes.
out of a data set.
Here you can see there are 6 possible outcomes to
the condition of the students’ performance: Grades
Video 2: The IF function A to F.
The IF function lets you calculate answers based on So, if a student’s score is less than 45, then they’ll get
whether the outcome of a condition is True or False. an F. Otherwise, they’ll get one of the other 5 grade
options. Each of these grade possibilities must be
It’s useful for any situation where you’re looking at a
nested in a formula.
conditional outcome. Think about it in terms of an
if-then statement. For example, if the sales target is
reached, then we’ll restock, otherwise we will not.
Video 5: Building a nested IF formula
In this example, there are 2 possible outcomes to
Let’s start building a nested IF formula to see how
the statement “The sales target has been reached”:
it works.
Yes, it’s true, and we’ll restock. Or no, it’s false, and we
won’t restock. Click in the cell you want to apply the formula to.
Then click on the Logical button and select IF.
The outcome is dependent on the condition that the
sales target is reached. To fill in the first entry field, click into the Logical
test box, then click on the student’s score. The cell
reference appears in the logical test box.
Video 3: Using the IF function
Now, in order for this student to get an F grade,
To use the IF function, you need to add 3 parameters they’ll have to score less than 45. So, let’s add that
inside the brackets: calculation to the Logical test box.
• 1st, Condition – In our example, condition refers Now type the outcome into the Value if true box.
to reaching the sales target. So let’s add the cell
Each IF function in your nested formula needs to be
reference for the sales target.
separated by a comma. So, add one here.
• 2nd, Action if true – If it’s true that the sales
Now we can add another IF function. If the student
target is greater than the total sales, then the
scores less than 55, they get an E.
answer we’re looking for here is YES.
We keep going until all the possible outcomes have
• 3rd, Action if false – If it’s false that the sales
been added to the formula, so it looks like this.
target is greater than the total sales, then the
answer is NO. But we don’t have to do this for every entry. Just click
and drag to copy the nested IF formula to the rest of
Excel checks the condition to see if the answer is true
the list.
or false.
For this example, we’ve used the mathematical
symbol for “is greater than”. You can use several Video 6: IFERROR (tidying N/A)
symbols with IF, for a slightly different calculation.
For example, You can use the IFERROR function to tidy up any
N/A, or Not Applicable, entries in a spreadsheet. Let’s
say a couple of students were absent for their exams
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and didn’t get any scores. Let’s change that N/A to achieved for the outcome to be true.
Absent.
For example, let’s say this business needs to achieve
Click into the formula that gives the student’s grade sales targets for all 3 products before reordering any
result. Type IFERROR after the equals sign and put of them.
brackets around the original formula. After this,
You can use the OR function when you have 2
add the value you’d like to replace the N/A within
conditions and either of them can be achieved for a
quotation marks.
true outcome.
You can use a space instead of a word or number if
For example, let’s say that there are 2 other ways to
you just want to tidy your workbook. But we’re going
work out whether products should be reordered:
to use absent as the value.
Receive 5 product requests or make 1000 sales.
Either achievement will result in a reorder.
Video 7: Range names
You can give cell ranges descriptive names so they’re Video 10: Using AND with IF
easier to remember and keep track of. This reduces
Let’s assume you’ve already created the IF formula.
the risk of making mistakes when you click or type
cell references. To use AND with IF, click into the formula, just
inside the left-hand bracket. Then click Logical. At
Select the range of cells you want to name. Then
the bottom of the list, select Insert Function. Type
click Formulas, and Define Name.
AND at the start of the Logical test box. Then add
Type in a name for your cell range. You can’t use your extra conditional statements, making sure all
spaces in range names, and they should always begin the conditional statements are wrapped in a set of
with a letter. brackets, and separated by commas.
The scope of the range name automatically defaults All of these statements need to be true. Type YES
to the whole workbook. But you can select a specific into Value if true, and NO into Value if false.
worksheet if you want to reuse the range name with
Click OK. Excel has calculated the answer. This is
a different set of cells in a different worksheet.
what the final formula looks like.
And you can add a comment to explain what your
range name refers to.
Video 11: Using OR with IF
Click OK, and you’ll see the new range name over here.
To add OR to an IF statement, follow the same
procedure as adding an AND statement.
Video 8: Creating range names from row or
Instead of using AND, type OR. Create your extra
column headers
conditional statements as before. Remember to
You can create a range name using a row or column wrap them in a set of brackets, and separate each
header. Select the cell, including the header or row statement with a comma.
number. Then click on Create from Selection. Click
Either one or the other of these conditions must
into the box next to whichever area you’d like to pull
be met to get the true outcome, which is “Yes”, the
the name from. Then click OK.
products can be reordered.
You can also use a named range in a formula. Just
Click OK. Excel has calculated the answer. This is
click in the formula where you’d usually enter a range
what the final formula looks like.
of cells, then click on Use in Formula and select from
the list.

Video 12: CONCATENATION

Video 9: IF/AND/OR Concatenation means linking things together. In
Excel, this function lets you join strings of characters
The AND, IF, and OR functions are often combined
or numbers together. Any numbers or cell references
in Excel.
included will be converted to text.
You can combine the AND function with IF when
Let’s say you have a set of staff information in a
you have more than 1 condition that needs to be
spreadsheet. So, in separate columns, you have
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name, address, telephone number, and so on.

But you need to pull the information together for Video 16: NOW
each person in a separate document. That’s where
You can display the current date and time on your
concatenation can come in handy.
workbook with the NOW function.
Click into the cell where you want the date and time
Video 13: Using CONCATENATION to appear.
Click into the cell where you want to pull the Click Date and Time on the Formulas tab, and
information together. select NOW.
On the Formulas tab, click on More Functions, and There are no parameters or arguments for this
find Compatibility. Select Concatenate. function, so click OK.
In each of the text boxes, put the cell reference of If you can’t see the date and time at first, you may
each piece of information you want to join together. need to widen your cell.
When you’re finished, click OK.
The format of your date and time will automatically
You’ll notice all the information has been joined match your Windows regional settings. You can
together regardless of the need for spaces. It’s easy change this in Format Cells using the Date and
to add spaces to the formula. Click in between the Time categories.
2 cell references where you’d like a space to appear.
Bear in mind that the time and date set by the NOW
Add quotation marks with a space between them.
function will update each time you open
Don’t forget to add a comma after. Press Enter. Now
your workbook.
there’s a space.
This can be useful when doing calculations that count
You can also add extra bits of text to the formula to
days. For example, a countdown to a deadline date
create a sentence out of your new text string. For
will automatically update if the formula links to NOW.
example, let’s add “lives at” and a few more spaces to
make this readable.
And of course, you can copy this formula to the rest Video 17: CHOOSE
of the column.
The CHOOSE function is a reference tool. It helps
you search a list to find values that match a specific
position, such as 25th on a list.
Video 14: PROPER
For an easy example, let’s say you want to find the
The PROPER function transforms the 1st letter of a
3rd most reliable source of industry news in your
word or text string into a capital letter.
sector. You’ll need 2 columns; one to display the
Sometimes the text in a spreadsheet might need rankings, and one to display the values. In this case,
some tidying to make it look better or more the values are the names of reliable sources.
readable. Basically, the PROPER function changes
the text so it looks like a properly punctuated name
or sentence. Video 18: Using CHOOSE
Click into a cell where you’d like to see your search
result. Then click Lookup and Reference, and select
Video 15: Using PROPER
Choose.
Let’s use PROPER to give these names capital letters.
The Item Number is the ranking position in the list
On the Formulas tab, click Text, then select PROPER. that you’re looking for. We want the item ranked 3rd,
so add 3 in this box.
Click in the cell that has the text you want to correct.
This selects the cell reference. Click OK. In the value boxes, click on each cell containing a
value. When you’re finished, click OK.
Now you should see the name properly capitalized.
And as you can see, the Choose function has
You don’t have to do this for each item on a list. Click
returned the item ranked 3rd on this list.
into the 1st cell with the PROPER formula. Then click
and drag down the list.