Address of a Cell in Which a Threshold is Exceeded

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 24, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

In column A Ron has a series of numeric values sorted in ascending order. (The values are the results of formulas.) He would like to use a different formula to return the address of the first cell in column A in which the value exceeds a threshold that is found in cell E3. The problem is, Ron has no idea on how to put together such a formula.

There are multiple formulaic approaches you can take to this issue, and the one you choose can depend on the nature of the data you are analyzing. If you want the address of the cell in which the threshold is first met or first exceeded, then these formulas will do fine:

=ADDRESS(ROW(XLOOKUP(E3,A:A,A:A,,1)),1)
=ADDRESS(XMATCH(E3,A:A,1),1)

If, however, you want the address of the first cell in which the threshold is first truly exceeded (in other words, matches with the threshold are not counted), then the following formulas will work:

=ADDRESS(MATCH(E3,A:A,1)+1,1)
=ADDRESS(ROW(XLOOKUP(E3+0.001,A:A,A:A,,1)),1)
=ADDRESS(XMATCH(E3+0.001,A:A,1),1)
=ADDRESS(MATCH(E3,A:A,1)+1,COLUMN(A:A))
="A" & MATCH(E3,A:A,1)+1
=CELL("address",INDEX($A:$A,MATCH(E3,$A:$A,1)+1))

If nothing in column A exceeds the threshold in E3, then none of the above formulas work—they simply return the address of the cell in column A that is one row beyond the last value. That is similar to what happens with the following formulas:

=CELL("address",INDEX(A:A,MATCH(TRUE,INDEX(A:A>E3,0),)))
=ADDRESS(MATCH(MIN(IF(A:A>E3,A:A)),A:A,0),1)
=ADDRESS(MATCH(1,--(A:A>E3),0),COLUMN(A:A),4)
=SUBSTITUTE(CELL("address",INDEX(A:A,MATCH(1,--(A:A>E3),0))),"$","")

The difference with these formulas is that they don't return an erroneous address when the threshold is not exceeded by any value, but instead returns an #N/A error. This means that any of them could be wrapped within an IFNA function that "catches" the error condition and allows you to indicate what should be done. Here's an example of one of the formulas thusly wrapped:

=IFNA(ADDRESS(MATCH(MIN(IF(A:A>E3,A:A)),A:A,0),1),"Threshold not Exceeded")

This wrapping obviously makes the formulas a bit longer, but it makes the results of the formula more understandable.

Finally, it should be noted that all of these formulas should work just fine in Excel 2019 or later versions. In earlier versions, most of the formulas need to be entered as array formulas using Ctrl+Shift+Enter. (You should be able to look at the results returned by the formula and tell if you should enter it as an array formula.)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12999) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

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

Controlling Display of Toolbar Buttons

You can assign your macros to a series of custom toolbar buttons, but you may only want those buttons to be visible when ...

Discover More

Colors No Longer Work

It can be disconcerting if you are editing a workbook and can no longer change colors for cells in the workbook. This tip ...

Discover More

Converting Automatic Numbering to Manual Numbering

The automatic numbering that Word lets you apply to paragraphs in your document can create some great looking content, ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Referring to the Last Cell

It is not unusual to use worksheets to collect information over time. As you keep adding information to the worksheet, ...

Discover More

Counting Occurrences of Words

If you would like to determine how many instances of a particular word appear within a range of text, there are several ...

Discover More

Counting Wins and Losses

Need to count the number of W (win) or L (loss) characters in a range of cells? You can develop a number of formulaic ...

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.

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 three less than 5?

2022-12-26 10:12:33

J. Woolley

According to Microsoft, XLOOKUP requires Excel 2016 or later, but XMATCH requires Excel 2021 or later.
Since none of these formulas return an array, do any of them need to be entered using Ctrl+Shift+Enter? (If you have Excel pre-2021, please reply.)


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.