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INDIRECT

Supported, behaves as documented

Category: Lookup and reference · Last tested 2026-08-06

Real, executed compatibility results for the INDIRECT function across Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice Calc — verified by actually running it. Syntax and links to each vendor’s official documentation are below.

Support matrix

EngineDocumentedLive-testedVerdict
Excel Yes Not yet n/a
Google Sheets Yes Not yet n/a
LibreOffice Calc Yes Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-08-06) Supported, behaves as documented

LibreOffice version history

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

LibreOffice versionVerdictTested
24.2.0.3 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-07-19
24.8.7.2 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-07-19
25.2.0.3 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-07-24
25.8.7.3 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-08-06

Executed test cases

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-06)

FormulaDescriptionResultExpectedVerdict
=INDIRECT("A1") Basic ref_text naming a cell literally 42 42 Matched
=INDIRECT("A"&2) ref_text built dynamically by concatenating column letter and a row number 99 99 Matched
=INDIRECT("NotACell!!") A ref_text string that isn't a valid cell reference in either A1 or R1C1 style -> #REF! #REF! #REF!
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/indirect-function-474b3a3a-8a26-4f44-b491-92b6306fa261 -- documents that an invalid ref_text returns the #REF! error value		 Matched
=INDIRECT("R2C1",FALSE) a1=FALSE switches ref_text parsing to R1C1 notation; R2C1 means row 2, column 1 = A2 7 7 Matched
=INDIRECT("Z50") Referencing a genuinely blank cell returns 0, matching normal cell-reference behavior in a numeric context 0 0 Matched

Docs & syntax

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