ERROR.TYPE
Quirk foundCategory: Information · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the ERROR.TYPE 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) | Quirk found |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when ERROR.TYPE’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Quirk found | 2026-08-29 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Quirk found | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Quirk found | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Quirk found | 2026-07-29 |
Why isn't ERROR.TYPE working in LibreOffice?
ERROR.TYPE exists in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3, but it is not a drop-in match for
Excel — our executed tests found real behavioral differences (detailed in the test results on this
page). If a formula that works in Excel or Google Sheets misbehaves in LibreOffice, compare your usage
against the failing cases above before assuming your data is wrong.
Why isn’t ERROR.TYPE working in Google Sheets?
ERROR.TYPE 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
-
=ERROR.TYPE(A1:A2 C1:C2) on
Google Sheets returned
#ERROR!, but the documented/expected
result is 1.
Provenance
#NULL!=1 confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa; 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?
-
=ERROR.TYPE(OFFSET(A1,-1,0)) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#N/A, but the documented/expected
result is 4.
Provenance
MISMATCH vs expected: expected 4, got '#N/A'
-
=ERROR.TYPE(SQRT(-1)) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#N/A, but the documented/expected
result is 6.
Provenance
MISMATCH vs expected: expected 6, got '#N/A'
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ERROR.TYPE(A1:A2 C1:C2) | Space-intersection of two non-overlapping ranges produces a genuine #NULL! error -> ERROR.TYPE code 1 | 1 | 1Provenance#NULL!=1 confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa |
Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(1/0) | #DIV/0! -> code 2 | 2 | 2 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE("a"+1) | #VALUE! -> code 3 | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(OFFSET(A1,-1,0)) | Offsetting above row 1 produces a genuine #REF! error -> code 4 | 4 | 4 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(qwertyzz) | An undefined name reference produces #NAME? -> code 5 | 5 | 5 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(SQRT(-1)) | Square root of a negative number produces #NUM! -> code 6 | 6 | 6 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(NA()) | #N/A -> code 7 | 7 | 7ProvenanceFull 1-7 mapping confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa |
Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(5) | Per docs, applying ERROR.TYPE to anything that is NOT an error value itself returns the #N/A error | #N/A | #N/AProvenanceConfirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa: 'returns the #N/A error' for non-error input. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ERROR.TYPE(A1:A2 C1:C2) | Space-intersection of two non-overlapping ranges produces a genuine #NULL! error -> ERROR.TYPE code 1 | #ERROR! | 1Provenance#NULL!=1 confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa |
Mismatch |
| =ERROR.TYPE(1/0) | #DIV/0! -> code 2 | 2 | 2 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE("a"+1) | #VALUE! -> code 3 | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(OFFSET(A1,-1,0)) | Offsetting above row 1 produces a genuine #REF! error -> code 4 | 4 | 4 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(qwertyzz) | An undefined name reference produces #NAME? -> code 5 | 5 | 5 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(SQRT(-1)) | Square root of a negative number produces #NUM! -> code 6 | 6 | 6 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(NA()) | #N/A -> code 7 | 7 | 7ProvenanceFull 1-7 mapping confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa |
Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(5) | Per docs, applying ERROR.TYPE to anything that is NOT an error value itself returns the #N/A error | #N/A | #N/AProvenanceConfirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa: 'returns the #N/A error' for non-error input. |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =ERROR.TYPE(A1:A2 C1:C2) | Space-intersection of two non-overlapping ranges produces a genuine #NULL! error -> ERROR.TYPE code 1 | 1 | 1Provenance#NULL!=1 confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa |
Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(1/0) | #DIV/0! -> code 2 | 2 | 2 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE("a"+1) | #VALUE! -> code 3 | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(OFFSET(A1,-1,0)) | Offsetting above row 1 produces a genuine #REF! error -> code 4 | #N/A | 4 | Mismatch |
| =ERROR.TYPE(qwertyzz) | An undefined name reference produces #NAME? -> code 5 | 5 | 5 | Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(SQRT(-1)) | Square root of a negative number produces #NUM! -> code 6 | #N/A | 6 | Mismatch |
| =ERROR.TYPE(NA()) | #N/A -> code 7 | 7 | 7ProvenanceFull 1-7 mapping confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa |
Matched |
| =ERROR.TYPE(5) | Per docs, applying ERROR.TYPE to anything that is NOT an error value itself returns the #N/A error | #N/A | #N/AProvenanceConfirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/error-type-function-10958677-7c8d-44f7-ae77-b9a9ee6eefaa: 'returns the #N/A error' for non-error input. |
Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation
Where ERROR.TYPE behaves differently
- Bond and treasury functions after a migration: what actually breaks
Executed across 26 fixed-income functions and 161 cases: ODDFPRICE and ODDFYIELD are literal stubs in LibreOffice, TBILLPRICE prices a two-year bill, INTRATE's default basis loses a day, and MDURATION is wrong on actual/actual. 83 of 84 documented #NUM! cases arrive as #VALUE!. Google Sheets matched 127 of 161. - DOLLARDE and DOLLARFR: fractional bond prices across engines
Executed: all eight valid DOLLARDE/DOLLARFR conversions match Microsoft's documented values in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 and Google Sheets, including the documented truncation of a non-integer fraction. All four error cases return #VALUE! in LibreOffice where #DIV/0! or #NUM! is documented; Google Sheets returns the documented code. - ERROR.TYPE: LibreOffice returns #N/A where Excel returns 4 and 6
LibreOffice returns #N/A where Excel documents 4 and 6; executed Google Sheets returns 4 and 6 but cannot parse the intersection operator at all. Error-classification logic breaks on migration. - Every error code LibreOffice reports as #VALUE!
Across our 2,334-case executed corpus, 272 cases in 135 functions return #VALUE! in LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 where Microsoft documents #NUM! (244), #N/A (15), #DIV/0! (10) or #REF! (3). Google Sheets returns the documented code on 239 of the 249 it has a function for. Identical in all four LibreOffice builds tested. - #NUM! vs #VALUE!: Excel vs LibreOffice
Domain errors Microsoft documents as #NUM! - LN(0), SQRT(-16), out-of-range LARGE - return #VALUE! in LibreOffice. Google Sheets returns #NUM! on all 16, executed: LibreOffice is alone. - PERCENTRANK significance: Excel truncates, Sheets and LibreOffice round
Executed: PERCENTRANK.INC(A2:A11,4) returns 0.556 in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 and Google Sheets, and 0.555 in Excel for the web, where Microsoft publishes 0.555, and at significance 1 PERCENTRANK.EXC returns 0.4 against a published 0.3. The ranking arithmetic matches everywhere; only the significance step differs, and only on repeating decimals.