Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Understanding the If ... End If Structure.

Understanding the If ... End If Structure

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 28, 2023)

2

Macros in Excel are written in a language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Like any other programming language, VBA includes certain programming structures which are used to control how the program executes. One of these structures is the If ... End If structure. The most common use of this structure has the following syntax:

If condition Then
    program statements
Else
    program statements
End If

When a macro is executing, and this structure is encountered, Excel tests whatever condition you have defined. If the condition is true, then the program statements, the statements right after the Then keyword, are executed. If they are not true, then the statements after the Else keyword are executed. The Else keyword and any following program statements (which together make up an Else clause) are optional; you do not need to include them in your macro.

Regardless of whether the program statements in the If ... End If structure are executed, when Excel is done with the structure, the macro continues running with the statement following the End If keyword.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12081) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Understanding the If ... End If Structure.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Applying Bold Italics

Applying bold and italics formatting to text is easy in Word. If you want to apply bold and italics simultaneously, you ...

Discover More

Drawing Lines

Lines are one of the most common graphic elements to be added to documents. Here's how you can add the lines you want.

Discover More

Underlining Cells, Not Space Between Cells

Word provides a couple of ways you can underline information, including underlining table cells and their contents. ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Making a Macro Button Stay Put

Excel allows you to add buttons to your worksheet that can be used to trigger macros. If you don't want those buttons to ...

Discover More

Selectively Importing Records

Want to easily control which records get imported from a text file into Excel? It's easy to do when you write the macro ...

Discover More

Copying Worksheets in a Macro

Copying worksheets (one or many) is easy to do manually. What is not well known is that it is even easy to make the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight more than 9?

2023-01-28 11:18:32

J. Woolley

@Tomek
Well done.

2023-01-28 08:33:41

Tomek

The If ... End If structure has one more possible element: ElseIf. That element can be repeated as many times as needed.

The full syntax is as follows:
----------------------------------
If condition Then
    [ statements ]
[ ElseIf condition-n Then
    [ elseifstatements ]]
.
.
[ Else
    [ elsestatements ]]
End If
-----------------------

Note that if in that structure several of the conditions (condition or any of condition-n) would evaluate to TRUE, only statements grouped after the first one will be executed, the rest will be ignored.

There is a structure with similar functionality - Select Case. It is a concept a bit harder to grasp, but sometimes easier to code.

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.