MINUS
Unsupported (not recognized)Category: Operator · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the MINUS function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, measured against Google’s published documentation. Excel does not document MINUS, so this page makes no claim about Excel. Syntax and links to that documentation are below.
Support matrix
| Engine | Documented | Live-tested | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | No | n/a (not an Excel function) | n/a |
| Excel for the web | — | Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01) | Unsupported (not recognized) |
| Google Sheets | Yes | Yes (Drive import, 2026-09-01) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| LibreOffice Calc | No | Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-09-01) | Unsupported (not recognized) |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when MINUS’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Unsupported (not recognized) | 2026-09-01 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Unsupported (not recognized) | 2026-09-01 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Unsupported (not recognized) | 2026-09-01 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Unsupported (not recognized) | 2026-09-01 |
Why isn't MINUS working in LibreOffice?
LibreOffice Calc does not implement MINUS as of 25.8.7.3 — in our
executed tests it returns a #NAME? (unrecognized function) error. This is not a typo or a
settings problem, and saving the file as .xlsx does not change it: the function simply isn’t
available yet.
Watch the LibreOffice version support page —
we re-run every test on each new release, so it will flip to Supported here as soon as it lands.
Discovered quirks
-
=MINUS(3,4) on
Excel for the web returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is -1.
Provenance
Google's Sample Usage prints MINUS(3,4) with no result; -1 is DERIVED from the page's definition, "Returns the difference of two numbers. Equivalent to the `-` operator", together with its argument descriptions ("value1 - The minuend, or number to be subtracted from", "value2 - The subtrahend"), which fix the direction of the subtraction. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. BATCH PROVENANCE (batch H, the first Sheets/LibreOffice-only batch). Every function in this batch has x == false in docs/data/compat.json: it is a Google Sheets function that Microsoft does not document at all, so this corpus makes NO claim about it in that engine and nothing here is measured against that vendor's documentation. The authority is Google's own support.google.com function page, cited by full URL and by the date it was read -- Google publishes no version number for these pages, so a bare URL dates nothing. WHAT GOOGLE ACTUALLY PRINTS, WHICH IS LESS THAN IT LOOKS: most of these pages carry a 'Sample Usage' block of FORMULAS WITH NO RESULTS. Where a value below is Google's own published output the note says so; where it is derived from the page's stated semantics the note says that instead, and says from which sentence. No value in this batch was taken from a search snippet, a blog or a mirror. LIBREOFFICE: probed on all four pinned builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) in five storage spellings -- plain, _xlfn., COM.MICROSOFT., ORG.OPENOFFICE. and _xlfn.ORG.OPENOFFICE. -- and #NAME? under every one of them, so the expected values below describe Google Sheets and the LibreOffice column records absence.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected -1, got '#NAME?'
-
=MINUS(A2,A3) on
Excel for the web returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is 7.5.
Provenance
Derived from the same definition; the page publishes no results. Its Examples section is an embedded live spreadsheet whose cells are not part of the article text. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 7.5, got '#NAME?'
-
=MINUS(A2,A3)-(A2-A3) on
Excel for the web returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is 0.
Provenance
A structural assertion with no derived constant, from the `-` operator equivalence. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 0, got '#NAME?'
-
=MINUS(3,4)+MINUS(4,3) on
Excel for the web returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is 0.
Provenance
A structural consequence of the minuend/subtrahend argument descriptions: if the order of the two arguments decides the sign, the two orderings must sum to zero. No constant is derived. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 0, got '#NAME?'
-
=MINUS(3,4) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is -1.
Provenance
Google's Sample Usage prints MINUS(3,4) with no result; -1 is DERIVED from the page's definition, "Returns the difference of two numbers. Equivalent to the `-` operator", together with its argument descriptions ("value1 - The minuend, or number to be subtracted from", "value2 - The subtrahend"), which fix the direction of the subtraction. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. BATCH PROVENANCE (batch H, the first Sheets/LibreOffice-only batch). Every function in this batch has x == false in docs/data/compat.json: it is a Google Sheets function that Microsoft does not document at all, so this corpus makes NO claim about it in that engine and nothing here is measured against that vendor's documentation. The authority is Google's own support.google.com function page, cited by full URL and by the date it was read -- Google publishes no version number for these pages, so a bare URL dates nothing. WHAT GOOGLE ACTUALLY PRINTS, WHICH IS LESS THAN IT LOOKS: most of these pages carry a 'Sample Usage' block of FORMULAS WITH NO RESULTS. Where a value below is Google's own published output the note says so; where it is derived from the page's stated semantics the note says that instead, and says from which sentence. No value in this batch was taken from a search snippet, a blog or a mirror. LIBREOFFICE: probed on all four pinned builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) in five storage spellings -- plain, _xlfn., COM.MICROSOFT., ORG.OPENOFFICE. and _xlfn.ORG.OPENOFFICE. -- and #NAME? under every one of them, so the expected values below describe Google Sheets and the LibreOffice column records absence.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected -1, got '#NAME?'
-
=MINUS(A2,A3) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is 7.5.
Provenance
Derived from the same definition; the page publishes no results. Its Examples section is an embedded live spreadsheet whose cells are not part of the article text. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 7.5, got '#NAME?'
-
=MINUS(A2,A3)-(A2-A3) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is 0.
Provenance
A structural assertion with no derived constant, from the `-` operator equivalence. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 0, got '#NAME?'
-
=MINUS(3,4)+MINUS(4,3) on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#NAME?, but the documented/expected
result is 0.
Provenance
A structural consequence of the minuend/subtrahend argument descriptions: if the order of the two arguments decides the sign, the two orderings must sum to zero. No constant is derived. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977.; MISMATCH vs expected: expected 0, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =MINUS(3,4) | The page's own Sample Usage line, whose result is negative | #NAME? | -1ProvenanceGoogle's Sample Usage prints MINUS(3,4) with no result; -1 is DERIVED from the page's definition, "Returns the difference of two numbers. Equivalent to the `-` operator", together with its argument descriptions ("value1 - The minuend, or number to be subtracted from", "value2 - The subtrahend"), which fix the direction of the subtraction. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. BATCH PROVENANCE (batch H, the first Sheets/LibreOffice-only batch). Every function in this batch has x == false in docs/data/compat.json: it is a Google Sheets function that Microsoft does not document at all, so this corpus makes NO claim about it in that engine and nothing here is measured against that vendor's documentation. The authority is Google's own support.google.com function page, cited by full URL and by the date it was read -- Google publishes no version number for these pages, so a bare URL dates nothing. WHAT GOOGLE ACTUALLY PRINTS, WHICH IS LESS THAN IT LOOKS: most of these pages carry a 'Sample Usage' block of FORMULAS WITH NO RESULTS. Where a value below is Google's own published output the note says so; where it is derived from the page's stated semantics the note says that instead, and says from which sentence. No value in this batch was taken from a search snippet, a blog or a mirror. LIBREOFFICE: probed on all four pinned builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) in five storage spellings -- plain, _xlfn., COM.MICROSOFT., ORG.OPENOFFICE. and _xlfn.ORG.OPENOFFICE. -- and #NAME? under every one of them, so the expected values below describe Google Sheets and the LibreOffice column records absence. |
Mismatch |
| =MINUS(A2,A3) | The second Sample Usage line, over two populated cells | #NAME? | 7.5ProvenanceDerived from the same definition; the page publishes no results. Its Examples section is an embedded live spreadsheet whose cells are not part of the article text. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Mismatch |
| =MINUS(A2,A3)-(A2-A3) | The documented operator equivalence, asserted structurally | #NAME? | 0ProvenanceA structural assertion with no derived constant, from the `-` operator equivalence. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Mismatch |
| =MINUS(3,4)+MINUS(4,3) | Swapping minuend and subtrahend must negate the result | #NAME? | 0ProvenanceA structural consequence of the minuend/subtrahend argument descriptions: if the order of the two arguments decides the sign, the two orderings must sum to zero. No constant is derived. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Mismatch |
Google Sheets (executed 2026-09-01 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =MINUS(3,4) | The page's own Sample Usage line, whose result is negative | -1 | -1ProvenanceGoogle's Sample Usage prints MINUS(3,4) with no result; -1 is DERIVED from the page's definition, "Returns the difference of two numbers. Equivalent to the `-` operator", together with its argument descriptions ("value1 - The minuend, or number to be subtracted from", "value2 - The subtrahend"), which fix the direction of the subtraction. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. BATCH PROVENANCE (batch H, the first Sheets/LibreOffice-only batch). Every function in this batch has x == false in docs/data/compat.json: it is a Google Sheets function that Microsoft does not document at all, so this corpus makes NO claim about it in that engine and nothing here is measured against that vendor's documentation. The authority is Google's own support.google.com function page, cited by full URL and by the date it was read -- Google publishes no version number for these pages, so a bare URL dates nothing. WHAT GOOGLE ACTUALLY PRINTS, WHICH IS LESS THAN IT LOOKS: most of these pages carry a 'Sample Usage' block of FORMULAS WITH NO RESULTS. Where a value below is Google's own published output the note says so; where it is derived from the page's stated semantics the note says that instead, and says from which sentence. No value in this batch was taken from a search snippet, a blog or a mirror. LIBREOFFICE: probed on all four pinned builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) in five storage spellings -- plain, _xlfn., COM.MICROSOFT., ORG.OPENOFFICE. and _xlfn.ORG.OPENOFFICE. -- and #NAME? under every one of them, so the expected values below describe Google Sheets and the LibreOffice column records absence. |
Matched |
| =MINUS(A2,A3) | The second Sample Usage line, over two populated cells | 7.5 | 7.5ProvenanceDerived from the same definition; the page publishes no results. Its Examples section is an embedded live spreadsheet whose cells are not part of the article text. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Matched |
| =MINUS(A2,A3)-(A2-A3) | The documented operator equivalence, asserted structurally | 0 | 0ProvenanceA structural assertion with no derived constant, from the `-` operator equivalence. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Matched |
| =MINUS(3,4)+MINUS(4,3) | Swapping minuend and subtrahend must negate the result | 0 | 0ProvenanceA structural consequence of the minuend/subtrahend argument descriptions: if the order of the two arguments decides the sign, the two orderings must sum to zero. No constant is derived. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-09-01)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =MINUS(3,4) | The page's own Sample Usage line, whose result is negative | #NAME? | -1ProvenanceGoogle's Sample Usage prints MINUS(3,4) with no result; -1 is DERIVED from the page's definition, "Returns the difference of two numbers. Equivalent to the `-` operator", together with its argument descriptions ("value1 - The minuend, or number to be subtracted from", "value2 - The subtrahend"), which fix the direction of the subtraction. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. BATCH PROVENANCE (batch H, the first Sheets/LibreOffice-only batch). Every function in this batch has x == false in docs/data/compat.json: it is a Google Sheets function that Microsoft does not document at all, so this corpus makes NO claim about it in that engine and nothing here is measured against that vendor's documentation. The authority is Google's own support.google.com function page, cited by full URL and by the date it was read -- Google publishes no version number for these pages, so a bare URL dates nothing. WHAT GOOGLE ACTUALLY PRINTS, WHICH IS LESS THAN IT LOOKS: most of these pages carry a 'Sample Usage' block of FORMULAS WITH NO RESULTS. Where a value below is Google's own published output the note says so; where it is derived from the page's stated semantics the note says that instead, and says from which sentence. No value in this batch was taken from a search snippet, a blog or a mirror. LIBREOFFICE: probed on all four pinned builds (24.2.0.3, 24.8.7.2, 25.2.0.3, 25.8.7.3) in five storage spellings -- plain, _xlfn., COM.MICROSOFT., ORG.OPENOFFICE. and _xlfn.ORG.OPENOFFICE. -- and #NAME? under every one of them, so the expected values below describe Google Sheets and the LibreOffice column records absence. |
Mismatch |
| =MINUS(A2,A3) | The second Sample Usage line, over two populated cells | #NAME? | 7.5ProvenanceDerived from the same definition; the page publishes no results. Its Examples section is an embedded live spreadsheet whose cells are not part of the article text. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Mismatch |
| =MINUS(A2,A3)-(A2-A3) | The documented operator equivalence, asserted structurally | #NAME? | 0ProvenanceA structural assertion with no derived constant, from the `-` operator equivalence. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Mismatch |
| =MINUS(3,4)+MINUS(4,3) | Swapping minuend and subtrahend must negate the result | #NAME? | 0ProvenanceA structural consequence of the minuend/subtrahend argument descriptions: if the order of the two arguments decides the sign, the two orderings must sum to zero. No constant is derived. Google's MINUS page, read live on 2026-08-31 at https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093977. |
Mismatch |
Docs & syntax
- Google Sheets: official documentation
Where MINUS behaves differently
- Google-only functions: what ports to Excel and LibreOffice, and what does not
Executed: 47 functions Google documents and neither Microsoft nor LibreOffice does, 189 cases, 183 of them #NAME? in LibreOffice on all four pinned builds after five- and nine-spelling probes. QUERY and ARRAYFORMULA do not port; the operator functions do exactly; REGEXMATCH, REGEXTEST and REGEX are three different functions with three regex flavours.