ISNA function

Excel’s ISNA function is a useful tool for checking if a cell contains the #N/A error value. This error typically appears when a lookup function can’t find the desired value in a range. ISNA returns “TRUE” if the specified cell contains #N/A, and “FALSE” if it doesn’t. Let’s break down the function in simple terms for easy understanding.

Syntax

ISNA(value)

Arguments

valueThe value you want to check for the #N/A error. This argument is required.

How to Use

The ISNA function is straightforward to use. You provide the cell or formula result you want to check for the #N/A error as the ‘value’ argument. Here are a couple of examples:

Example 1: Checking if cell A1 contains #N/A.

This formula will return “TRUE” if cell A1 contains #N/A, and “FALSE” if it doesn’t.

Example 2: Using ISNA with a VLOOKUP function.

Here, ISNA is used to check if the VLOOKUP function returns #N/A when searching for “SearchValue” in the range A1:B10. It will return “TRUE” if a #N/A error occurs and “FALSE” if it doesn’t.

Additional Information

The ISNA function is handy for error handling in Excel. It allows you to quickly identify and address #N/A errors in your spreadsheets. If you encounter other error values, such as #VALUE! or #REF!, Excel offers similar functions like ISERR and ISERROR to handle those cases.

Tomasz Decker is an Excel specialist, skilled in data analysis and financial modeling.