CHOOSE

Quirk found

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

Real compatibility results for the CHOOSE 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	Yes	Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-29)	Quirk found
LibreOffice Calc	Yes	Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-07-29)	Supported, behaves as documented

LibreOffice version history

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

LibreOffice version	Verdict	Tested
24.2.0.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-29
24.8.7.2	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-29
25.2.0.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-08-29
25.8.7.3	Supported, behaves as documented	2026-07-29

Why isn’t CHOOSE working in Google Sheets?

CHOOSE runs in Google Sheets, but our executed cases show it does not match Excel’s documented behavior on every input (the failing cases are listed on this page). If a formula that behaves one way in Excel gives you a different answer in Sheets, compare your usage against those cases before assuming your data is wrong.

Discovered quirks

=CHOOSE(5,"a","b","c") on Google Sheets returned #NUM!, but the documented/expected result is #VALUE!.
Provenance
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-function-fc5c184f-cb62-4ec7-a46e-38653b98f5bc -- 'If index_num is less than 1 or greater than the number of the last value in the list, CHOOSE returns the #VALUE! error value.'; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#VALUE!', got '#NUM!'

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
=CHOOSE(2,"a","b","c")	index_num=2 selects the second value in the list	b	b	Matched
=CHOOSE(1,10,20,30)	index_num=1 selects the first value	10	10	Matched
=CHOOSE(5,"a","b","c")	index_num beyond the number of supplied values -> #VALUE!	#VALUE!	#VALUE! Provenance https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-function-fc5c184f-cb62-4ec7-a46e-38653b98f5bc -- 'If index_num is less than 1 or greater than the number of the last value in the list, CHOOSE returns the #VALUE! error value.'	Matched
=CHOOSE(2.9,"a","b","c")	Non-integer index_num is truncated toward the lowest integer before use, not rounded	b	b Provenance Same doc as above: 'If index_num is a fraction, it is truncated to the lowest integer before being used.' 2.9 truncates to 2, not rounded to 3	Matched
=SUM(CHOOSE(2,A1:A3,B1:B3))	CHOOSE can select an entire range as its 'value', which is then fed to SUM	60	60 Provenance index_num=2 selects the B1:B3 range; SUM of 10+20+30=60	Matched

Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 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
=CHOOSE(2,"a","b","c")	index_num=2 selects the second value in the list	b	b	Matched
=CHOOSE(1,10,20,30)	index_num=1 selects the first value	10	10	Matched
=CHOOSE(5,"a","b","c")	index_num beyond the number of supplied values -> #VALUE!	#NUM!	#VALUE! Provenance https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-function-fc5c184f-cb62-4ec7-a46e-38653b98f5bc -- 'If index_num is less than 1 or greater than the number of the last value in the list, CHOOSE returns the #VALUE! error value.'	Mismatch
=CHOOSE(2.9,"a","b","c")	Non-integer index_num is truncated toward the lowest integer before use, not rounded	b	b Provenance Same doc as above: 'If index_num is a fraction, it is truncated to the lowest integer before being used.' 2.9 truncates to 2, not rounded to 3	Matched
=SUM(CHOOSE(2,A1:A3,B1:B3))	CHOOSE can select an entire range as its 'value', which is then fed to SUM	60	60 Provenance index_num=2 selects the B1:B3 range; SUM of 10+20+30=60	Matched

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=CHOOSE(2,"a","b","c")	index_num=2 selects the second value in the list	b	b	Matched
=CHOOSE(1,10,20,30)	index_num=1 selects the first value	10	10	Matched
=CHOOSE(5,"a","b","c")	index_num beyond the number of supplied values -> #VALUE!	#VALUE!	#VALUE! Provenance https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-function-fc5c184f-cb62-4ec7-a46e-38653b98f5bc -- 'If index_num is less than 1 or greater than the number of the last value in the list, CHOOSE returns the #VALUE! error value.'	Matched
=CHOOSE(2.9,"a","b","c")	Non-integer index_num is truncated toward the lowest integer before use, not rounded	b	b Provenance Same doc as above: 'If index_num is a fraction, it is truncated to the lowest integer before being used.' 2.9 truncates to 2, not rounded to 3	Matched
=SUM(CHOOSE(2,A1:A3,B1:B3))	CHOOSE can select an entire range as its 'value', which is then fed to SUM	60	60 Provenance index_num=2 selects the B1:B3 range; SUM of 10+20+30=60	Matched

Docs & syntax

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

Where CHOOSE behaves differently

CHOOSE out of range returns #NUM! in Google Sheets, not #VALUE!
An out-of-range index in CHOOSE errors everywhere, but Google Sheets returns #NUM! where Excel documents #VALUE! and LibreOffice executes #VALUE!. Why the error code forks and how to migrate.