What do different errors in Excel mean?

#NA

#NA means "no value is available." This error appears when something can't be found — most often in VLOOKUP and MATCH functions when a referenced value doesn't exist in the lookup range.

• "White" isn't in the list of colours in the table, so it returns #NA.
• In the second example, blue is in the table but VLOOKUP still shows #NA — because there's a trailing space after "blue ". Use TRIM to remove leading/trailing spaces, or set up a dropdown box to limit what users can enter.

#VALUE

#VALUE means something's wrong with your function. It's a broad error, so check which formula you're using first.

VLOOKUP

• The lookup value is missing at the start — VLOOKUP matches one referenced cell against a table, not a whole array. Fix: =VLOOKUP(D2, $A$2:$B$6, 2, FALSE)
• #VALUE also appears when your column index number is 0, or higher than the number of columns in the referenced table.

Addition / subtraction / multiplication / division

This happens when the formula references a cell that isn't a number — even if it looks like one. Extra characters ("11,33") or embedded spaces ("12 345") can stop Excel recognising it as a number. Check with ISNUMBER: TRUE means Excel sees it as a number, FALSE means it doesn't.

#REF

#REF appears when a referenced cell or range is no longer valid — usually because it was deleted. There's a difference between deleting cells (which shifts adjacent cells) and clearing cells (which only removes content).

• Avoid it: get in the habit of clearing content rather than deleting cells.
• Fix it: undo immediately if you can. Otherwise, go into the formula and re-point the reference.

#NUM!

#NUM! appears when there's a problem with a number in the formula, usually because the function can't find an answer.

• Square root of a negative number.

• Result too big or too small — the largest number Excel allows is 1 followed by 308 zeroes. Try =10^309 and you'll get #NUM.

• Missing information in the formula — e.g. DATEDIF needs a third argument specifying years/months/days. Leave it blank and you get #NUM.

#NAME

A few common causes:

• Typo in the formula or function name.

• Missing quotation marks around text in a formula.

• A named reference that doesn't exist — press F3 to see the list of named references instead of typing them from memory, check Formula > Name Manager to confirm it was actually created, and double-check spelling.

#NULL!

Check for a missing space, comma, or colon in the formula:

Circular referencing

Circular referencing happens when a formula's calculation includes the cell it's in — creating an infinite loop, e.g. A3 = A1 + A2 + A3. Excel usually warns you immediately.

If you dismiss the warning without reading it, the formula returns 0 instead of an obvious error. Check via Formula tab > Error Checking > Circular References.

#DIV/0

Self-explanatory: this happens when you divide a number by zero. Dividing A by B splits A into B parts — and you can never split something into zero parts.

#SPILL

#SPILL appears when a formula's result needs multiple cells, but some of those cells already contain data — common with VLOOKUP or MATCH using a range as the lookup value.

If cells in the spill range already contain data, Excel can't place the results there:

Fix: clear the data in those cells so nothing blocks the result.

######

This appears when the column isn't wide enough to display the value. Widen the column and the error disappears.