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Can an IF function in one cell cause an action in a different cell?

larrycruzen

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Is it possible to write an If function that causes an action in a different cell?

In words: IF cell A2="yes",then cell A3=7,else cell A4=9

I tried (in cell A3): IF(A2="yes"',7,A4=9) Doesn't work.

Larry Cruzen
 

twerppoet

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It can't be done. It would be really cool if you could, almost macro like, but you can't.

I'm assuming you are talking about Numbers, and on the iPad.
 

Blue92

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You actually have to work in the other direction:

In words: IF cell A2="yes",then cell A3=7,else cell A4=9

Cell A2 would contain the value and
Cell A3 would be: @IF(A2="yes",7,"")
Cell A4 would be: @IF(A2<>"yes",9,"")
 

twerppoet

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You actually have to work in the other direction:

In words: IF cell A2="yes",then cell A3=7,else cell A4=9

Cell A2 would contain the value and
Cell A3 would be: @IF(A2="yes",7,"")
Cell A4 would be: @IF(A2<>"yes",9,"")

Yep, that's the best way to get the described result. It bypasses the need to target a cell. I like that you included the null value as the else. Much cleaner than leaving it up to chance. In this case it seems to want to leave a FALSE value by default.

@Larry, in case you don't know how to get the null value. Use the "abc" key to get the text entry field then tap Done without entering any text. This shows up in the formula as "". Entering a space looks the same in the cell, but has a different affect on computations and value testing.


Also, in Numbers you won't find a <> key, and using individual < and > keys won't give the desired 'not equal to' result. Instead use the ≠ key.
 
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larrycruzen

larrycruzen

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Thanks for the replies. Appreciate you pointing out the subtleties of the null value. Of course, I would have figgered that out by myself in about 2 years.

Yep, I'm using NUMBERS on my IPAD. RE-downloaded both NUMBERS & PAGES. Both still lock up my IPAD most of the time when I try to delete a document. Wife's IPAD AIR works more consistently, but she won't trade.

Larry Cruzen
 

twerppoet

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I cheated and used Excel on my desktop......

I figured it was something like that. Fortunately Numbers will translate most of the minor syntax differences when importing/exporting; as long as the formula is actually possible. There are some really crazy, complex, and indirect functions in Excel that Numbers does not have.
 

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