AREAS

Unsupported (not recognized)

Category: Lookup and reference · Last tested 2026-09-01

Real compatibility results for the AREAS function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.

Support matrix

Engine	Documented	Live-tested	Verdict
Excel (desktop)	Yes	No — documented only	n/a
Excel for the web	—	Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01)	Supported, behaves as documented
Google Sheets	No	Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-31)	Unsupported (not recognized)
LibreOffice Calc	Yes	Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-08-31)	Supported, behaves as documented

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when AREAS’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

LibreOffice version	Verdict	Tested
24.2.0.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-31
24.8.7.2	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-31
25.2.0.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-31
25.8.7.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-31

Why isn’t AREAS working in Google Sheets?

Google Sheets does not implement AREAS: we imported the formula into Sheets on 2026-08-31 and every case came back #NAME? (unrecognized function). Sheets is a rolling service with no version to pin, so this is a statement about the service on that date, and Google’s own function list does not document it either. Rewrite the formula with a documented Sheets equivalent — see the Excel ↔ Sheets equivalents table.

Discovered quirks

=AREAS(B2:D4) on Google Sheets returned #NAME?, but the documented/expected result is 1.
Provenance
Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. Follows directly from the documented definition: "An area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell"; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 1, got '#NAME?'
=AREAS((B2:D4,E5,F6:I9)) on Google Sheets returned #ERROR!, but the documented/expected result is 3.
Provenance
Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 3. The documentation specifies the extra set of parentheses so Excel does not read the commas as argument separators; the union then contains three areas (a 3x3 range, a single cell, and a 4x4 range); MISMATCH vs expected: expected 3, got '#ERROR!'; NOTE: #ERROR! is Google Sheets' parse-failure error (no Excel equivalent); it means Sheets could not parse the formula, which is not the same as #NAME?
=AREAS(B2:D4 B2) on Google Sheets returned #ERROR!, but the documented/expected result is 1.
Provenance
Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. The space operator intersects B2:D4 with B2, and the single-cell result is one contiguous area; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 1, got '#ERROR!'; NOTE: #ERROR! is Google Sheets' parse-failure error (no Excel equivalent); it means Sheets could not parse the formula, which is not the same as #NAME?
=AREAS(B2) on Google Sheets returned #NAME?, but the documented/expected result is 1.
Provenance
Follows directly from the documented definition that "an area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell", so a lone cell reference is exactly one area; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 1, got '#NAME?'

Executed test cases

Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)

These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=AREAS(B2:D4)	Microsoft's documented worked example: a single contiguous range is one area	1	1 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. Follows directly from the documented definition: "An area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell"	Matched
=AREAS((B2:D4,E5,F6:I9))	Microsoft's documented worked example: a union of three references, wrapped in the extra parentheses the page requires	3	3 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 3. The documentation specifies the extra set of parentheses so Excel does not read the commas as argument separators; the union then contains three areas (a 3x3 range, a single cell, and a 4x4 range)	Matched
=AREAS(B2:D4 B2)	Microsoft's documented worked example: the space intersection operator yields a single area	1	1 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. The space operator intersects B2:D4 with B2, and the single-cell result is one contiguous area	Matched
=AREAS(B2)	A single cell reference	1	1 Provenance Follows directly from the documented definition that "an area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell", so a lone cell reference is exactly one area	Matched

Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-31 via Drive import)

Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=AREAS(B2:D4)	Microsoft's documented worked example: a single contiguous range is one area	#NAME?	1 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. Follows directly from the documented definition: "An area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell"	Mismatch
=AREAS((B2:D4,E5,F6:I9))	Microsoft's documented worked example: a union of three references, wrapped in the extra parentheses the page requires	#ERROR!	3 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 3. The documentation specifies the extra set of parentheses so Excel does not read the commas as argument separators; the union then contains three areas (a 3x3 range, a single cell, and a 4x4 range)	Mismatch
=AREAS(B2:D4 B2)	Microsoft's documented worked example: the space intersection operator yields a single area	#ERROR!	1 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. The space operator intersects B2:D4 with B2, and the single-cell result is one contiguous area	Mismatch
=AREAS(B2)	A single cell reference	#NAME?	1 Provenance Follows directly from the documented definition that "an area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell", so a lone cell reference is exactly one area	Mismatch

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-31)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=AREAS(B2:D4)	Microsoft's documented worked example: a single contiguous range is one area	1	1 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. Follows directly from the documented definition: "An area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell"	Matched
=AREAS((B2:D4,E5,F6:I9))	Microsoft's documented worked example: a union of three references, wrapped in the extra parentheses the page requires	3	3 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 3. The documentation specifies the extra set of parentheses so Excel does not read the commas as argument separators; the union then contains three areas (a 3x3 range, a single cell, and a 4x4 range)	Matched
=AREAS(B2:D4 B2)	Microsoft's documented worked example: the space intersection operator yields a single area	1	1 Provenance Microsoft's page publishes this example's result as 1. The space operator intersects B2:D4 with B2, and the single-cell result is one contiguous area	Matched
=AREAS(B2)	A single cell reference	1	1 Provenance Follows directly from the documented definition that "an area is a range of contiguous cells or a single cell", so a lone cell reference is exactly one area	Matched

Docs & syntax

Excel (desktop): official documentation
LibreOffice Calc: official documentation