#VALUE!Supported on: Microsoft Excel® & Google Sheets™

How to Fix the #VALUE! Error in Excel & Google Sheets

The #VALUE! error occurs in Excel and Google Sheets when a formula receives an unexpected data type, such as attempting mathematical operations on cells containing text strings or incompatible array dimensions.

Common Root Causes of #VALUE!

  • 1Performing arithmetic (+, -, *, /) on cells containing non-numeric text characters or hidden space characters.
  • 2Supplying a text string to a function expecting numeric coordinates (e.g., =SUM(A1:A5) vs =A1+A2 where A2 is text).
  • 3Passing incompatible date formats that the local spreadsheet engine cannot parse into integer serials.
  • 4Array formula arguments having mismatched matrix lengths or heights.

Formula Syntax Comparison

Broken Formula
=A2 * B2 (where A2 contains "$120.00 USD" formatted as raw string)
Corrected Formula
=VALUE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2, "$", ""), " USD", "")) * B2

Manual Step-by-Step Fix

1

Step 1

Use the VALUE() function or TRIM() to strip hidden spaces from imported text strings.

2

Step 2

Replace direct mathematical operators (+, -) with aggregate functions like SUM(), which ignore text cells automatically.

3

Step 3

Check data types with ISNUMBER(cell) or ISTEXT(cell) to pinpoint the rogue text cell.

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