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ISERR

The ISERR formula checks whether a value is an error and returns TRUE if it is an error value, and FALSE otherwise. This formula is most commonly used to test for error values that are not covered by the ISERROR formula, such as the #VALUE! error that occurs when a formula uses the wrong type of operand.

Usage

Use the ISERR formula with the syntax shown below, it has 1 required parameter:

=ISERR(value)
Parameters:
  1. value (required):
    The value or reference to a cell or range of cells to check.

Examples

Here are a few example use cases that explain how to use the ISERR formula in Google Sheets.

Detecting errors in a dataset

You can use ISERR to quickly detect errors in a large dataset. This can be useful when you need to identify and correct errors in a dataset that contains many rows and columns.

Checking for valid inputs

By using ISERR in combination with other formulas, you can check whether a value is a valid input for a calculation. For example, you can use ISERR to check whether a cell contains a number before performing a mathematical operation on it.

Debugging formulas

When a formula returns an error, you can use ISERR to test the formula and identify the type of error that occurred. This can help you to debug the formula and correct any errors.

Common Mistakes

ISERR not working? Here are some common mistakes people make when using the ISERR Google Sheets Formula:

Not using a value argument

The ISERR formula requires a value argument to be passed in. If the value argument is not included, the formula will return an error.

Not using a valid value

The ISERR formula can only be used with certain types of values, such as numbers, text, or logical values. If an invalid value is passed in, the formula will return an error.

Using the wrong formula

The ISERR formula is used to check if a value is an error. If you want to check if a value is not an error, you should use the ISERROR formula instead.

Related Formulas

The following functions are similar to ISERR or are often used with it in a formula:

  • ISERROR

    The ISERROR formula is used to check if a value contains an error. This formula returns TRUE if the value is an error, and FALSE if it is not. This function is most commonly used in combination with other formulas that can return errors, to ensure that the resulting value is valid.

  • IFERROR

    The IFERROR formula is used to check whether a specified value results in an error or not. If the value results in an error, then it returns a user-specified value instead of the error. This function is commonly used to prevent errors from breaking a formula or to replace error messages with custom messages.

  • IFNA

    The IFNA function checks if a value is an #N/A error and returns a specified value if it is. This is useful when you want to replace #N/A errors with a specific value. The function takes two arguments, the first argument is the value to check for #N/A error and the second argument is the value to return if the first argument is #N/A error.

  • NA

    The NA function in Google Sheets is not actually a function that performs a calculation. Instead, it is used to represent a missing or nonexistent value in a cell or formula. When you use the NA function, it returns the error value #N/A, which tells you that there is no value in that cell or that a formula is missing an argument or reference. This can be helpful for troubleshooting errors in your spreadsheet.

Learn More

You can learn more about the ISERR Google Sheets function on Google Support.