Convert ISERROR formulas to IFERROR formulas [macro]

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Last Friday, we have learned about an interesting formula – IFERROR Formula using which you can easily handle errors in Excel workbooks.

Quite a few people reading that page asked, “Wow, this is good. But how can I take a sheet full of =IF(ISERROR(…)….) formulas and convert them to =IFERROR()”

There is a different set of folks who asked “Wow, this is good. But quite a few of my colleagues use Excel 2003 and they see a bunch of #NAME errors when I send them an excel workbook with IFERROR formulas. Any help?!?”

I am pleased to announce that I wrote 2 simple macros, iferror2iserror() and iserror2iferror() that would scan formulas in a bunch of selected cells and convert them from IFERROR to ISERROR and vice-a-versa. Pretty cool, eh?

Download Excel Macros Workbook

Click here to download the workbook that has macros to convert IFERROR formulas to ISERROR formulas and vice-a-versa.

If you just want to examine the code:

Click here to view the VBA Module code.

What are these macros and how do they work?

The workbook contains 2 macros – iferror2iserror() & iserror2iferror().

What does iferror2iserror() macro do?

As the name suggests, It scans a bunch of selected cells for any IFERROR formulas and then converts them to ISERROR formulas.

For eg. if a cell has =IFERROR(expression, error), the output would be =IF(ISERROR(expression),error,expression)

What does iserror2iferror() macro do?

This macro scans a bunch of selected cells for any ISERROR formulas and then converts them to IFERROR formulas.

For eg. if a cell has =IF(ISERROR(expression),error,expression), the output would be =IFERROR(expression, error)

How to use these macros?

Very simple. Just select the cells with formulas and then run the required macro. The macros only affect cells with either IFERROR or ISERROR formulas.

Convert ISERROR formulas to IFERROR formulas and vice-a-versa - Excel Macros

What are the limitations of these macros?

These macros should hold good for many real life scenarios. That said,

  1. These macros do not check for IFERROR (or ISERROR) recursively. ie, if a formula has IFERROR inside another IFERROR, only the first one would be converted.
  2. These macros do not work when you have commas (,) inside the formula in double quotes. For eg. the below formula fails.
    =IFERROR(VLOOKUP("Kirk, James",tblStarwars,2,false),"Captain not found"))

    Your comments:

    How do you convert IFERROR or ISERROR formulas? Do you use a macro or you manually change the formulas? Please share your techniques and ideas using comments.

    Also, if you wish to modify the code, please feel free to do so. Share your work with rest of us thru comments so that we can benefit too.

    Get more Macro examples:

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    30 Responses to “Great News: Chandoo becomes MVP”

    1. arkangel says:

      Congratulations! It's well deserved. 🙂

    2. Bhars says:

      This is amazing. Hearty congratulations and a rocking new year ahead!!!

    3. Frederick says:

      Congrats! I have learnt alot from your site... and the most important is learning how to achieve the most with the simplest concepts.

    4. Harish Chotai says:

      Thanks for the excel calendar. Is it possible to get a simple big fonted calendar printable on an A4 size paper without any distracive notes or visuals? BTW, I have already signed up for your newsletter. With warm regards and
      Gratefully yours
      50+ year old CHarish.

    5. Pankaj Verm says:

      Hey Chandoo,

      Great to hear that. Congratulations! The best new year gift, I would say. Keep it up, u've been doing extraordinary work for the excel users community.

      Regards,

      Pankaj Verma

    6. Amit says:

      Congrats dude... fantastic news!

    7. Rich says:

      congratulations! your site is great, this is well deserved

      Rich

    8. Arnold says:

      I recently found your site, I visit many. The tips that you provide are in the top 1% of all the sites I visit. Keep on Excelling.

      Arnold
      South Africa

    9. Jorge Camoes says:

      Congratulations, Chandoo! That's a great way to start the year and make the PHD even better.

    10. Jiri Cihar says:

      Congratulations, Chandoo.

      Your site is one of most useful on the net. Happy new year and lot of ideas you will present for us.

    11. Amit Agarwal says:

      Congrats.

      Just read your name in an email from Abhishek. Well deserved.

    12. Jon Peltier says:

      Congratulations, and Happy New Year.

    13. Fchaves says:

      Greetings from Rio de Janeiro my friend! You trully deserve it!

      Nive way to start 2009! Keep up the good work!

      FC

    14. Santosh says:

      That was quite forseeable , so you have now really got your PhD in excel.
      Anyways Chandoo you have made excel a real Fun doo
      I will like you to write some more on INDEX and MATCH function in near future.

    15. Ketan says:

      @Hey Chandoo ! Congrates....

      Ab to treat mangta hai !

    16. Rajiv Thakur says:

      Well deserved Chandoo!!

    17. Cheryl says:

      Congrat's!! Very well deserved 🙂

    18. azmat says:

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    19. Chandoo says:

      @All: thanks everyone 🙂

    20. JP says:

      Congratulations Chandoo, nice job!

    21. Subbaraman says:

      Chandoo,

      A well deserved recognition and a good start to the New Year. Continue your good work.

      Subbu

    22. Vishal Haria says:

      Many Congratulations.
      You deserve a Ph.D. 🙂

    23. Govar says:

      Congrats dude. Rock on!

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    25. Respected sir,

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      Sir, How to be a MVP certified person. What level of knowledge is required for it? send me links if possible.

      Please reply...

      Regards,
      Dipak Khalasi.

    26. Jon Peltier says:

      Dipak -

      The first thing you need to cultivate is the ability to search the web effectively. You could start by Googling "Microsoft MVP". 

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    28. Sumit says:

      Congrats Chandoo!!

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