How to use TEXTJOIN in Excel
Joins text with a separator between items.
Syntax
delimiterWhat goes between items, like ", "ignore_emptyTRUE to skip blankstext1A range or textExample
Here’s TEXTJOIN on a small table of orders. The highlighted cells are the ones the formula reads.
=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,C2:C5)Edit this formula live Change the ranges and watch the answer update. Free, no sign-up.
Common mistakes with TEXTJOIN
The separator comes first
TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, C2:C5): separator, then whether to skip blanks, then the text.
TRUE skips empty cells
With FALSE you’ll get doubled separators wherever a cell is blank.
What the error messages mean
Type these slips into Gridwise and this is the feedback you get:
Leaving off the closing bracket
=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,C2:C5
Parentheses don’t match. You have 1 opening and 0 closing parentheses. Every ( needs a ).
Questions
What does the TEXTJOIN function do in Excel?
Joins text with a separator between items. The syntax is TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, …).
Why is my TEXTJOIN formula giving the wrong answer?
The separator comes first: TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, C2:C5): separator, then whether to skip blanks, then the text. TRUE skips empty cells: With FALSE you’ll get doubled separators wherever a cell is blank.
Does TEXTJOIN work in Google Sheets?
Most Excel functions, including the core ones on this page, work the same way in Google Sheets. A few newer functions arrived in Sheets later or behave slightly differently, so test it on your own data.