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.

What are the limitations of these macros?
These macros should hold good for many real life scenarios. That said,
- 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.
- 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.

















30 Responses to “Great News: Chandoo becomes MVP”
Congratulations! It's well deserved. 🙂
This is amazing. Hearty congratulations and a rocking new year ahead!!!
Congrats! I have learnt alot from your site... and the most important is learning how to achieve the most with the simplest concepts.
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.
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
Congrats dude... fantastic news!
congratulations! your site is great, this is well deserved
Rich
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
Congratulations, Chandoo! That's a great way to start the year and make the PHD even better.
Congratulations, Chandoo.
Your site is one of most useful on the net. Happy new year and lot of ideas you will present for us.
Congrats.
Just read your name in an email from Abhishek. Well deserved.
Congratulations, and Happy New Year.
Greetings from Rio de Janeiro my friend! You trully deserve it!
Nive way to start 2009! Keep up the good work!
FC
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.
@Hey Chandoo ! Congrates....
Ab to treat mangta hai !
Well deserved Chandoo!!
Congrat's!! Very well deserved 🙂
i always browsed mr.excel and used to see MVP writtne below names of people who used to solve queries in excel forum there......i just used to admire as to what they have special in them that they are MVP......
but now i got my answer...............u deserve it man..........
@All: thanks everyone 🙂
Congratulations Chandoo, nice job!
Chandoo,
A well deserved recognition and a good start to the New Year. Continue your good work.
Subbu
Many Congratulations.
You deserve a Ph.D. 🙂
congrats.....
Congrats dude. Rock on!
[...] charting community in 2007 and has been growing strongly ever since. In year 2009, I have received the MVP award from Microsoft. Just few days back I have become a dad [...]
Respected sir,
I am impressed!.... Good job done.. Keep it up...
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.
Dipak -
The first thing you need to cultivate is the ability to search the web effectively. You could start by Googling "Microsoft MVP".
[...] boy and girl which has been made hectic and incredibly fun ever since to their life.He has been awarded MVP status in 2009 by Microsoft(and renewed in 2010,2011 & 2012).His MVP profile is here.If you want to contact him direct then [...]
Congrats Chandoo!!
[…] Chandoo becomes MVP […]