TEXTJOIN
Supported, behaves as documentedCategory: Text · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the TEXTJOIN 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) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| 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 TEXTJOIN’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 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,"a","","b") | ignore_empty=TRUE skips blank/empty-string args | a,b | a,b | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN(",",FALSE,"a","","b") | ignore_empty=FALSE keeps the empty string as a segment | a,,b | a,,b | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN("-",TRUE,A1:A3) | Joining a cell range with a delimiter | x-y-z | x-y-z | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,A1:A2,B1:B2) | Multiple ranges are flattened and joined in order | a,b,c,d | a,b,c,d | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,"a","","b") | ignore_empty=TRUE skips blank/empty-string args | a,b | a,b | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN(",",FALSE,"a","","b") | ignore_empty=FALSE keeps the empty string as a segment | a,,b | a,,b | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN("-",TRUE,A1:A3) | Joining a cell range with a delimiter | x-y-z | x-y-z | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,A1:A2,B1:B2) | Multiple ranges are flattened and joined in order | a,b,c,d | a,b,c,d | Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,"a","","b") | ignore_empty=TRUE skips blank/empty-string args | a,b | a,b | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN(",",FALSE,"a","","b") | ignore_empty=FALSE keeps the empty string as a segment | a,,b | a,,b | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN("-",TRUE,A1:A3) | Joining a cell range with a delimiter | x-y-z | x-y-z | Matched |
| =TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,A1:A2,B1:B2) | Multiple ranges are flattened and joined in order | a,b,c,d | a,b,c,d | Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation
Related how-to recipes
- How to concatenate cells that meet a condition (TEXTJOIN IF)
- How to extract numbers from text in a cell
- How to use TEXTJOIN
- How to join a list of cells into one comma-separated string
- How to reverse a text string
Where TEXTJOIN behaves differently
- ARRAYFORMULA in Google Sheets: when you need it, and when it can't help
Google Sheets uses only the first element of an array passed to a scalar function - our executed run returns 140 for =SUM(SUMIFS(C2:C6,A2:A6,{"North","South"})) against 220 in LibreOffice. ARRAYFORMULA fixes six of nine cases; for SUMIFS criteria it does not, and SUMPRODUCT is the portable form. - CONCAT takes exactly two arguments in Google Sheets
Google Sheets' CONCAT accepts only two scalar values - our executed run returns #N/A for =CONCAT("a","b","c") and =CONCAT(A1:A3), which LibreOffice evaluates to abc and xyz. Use TEXTJOIN or CONCATENATE instead. - 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. - openpyxl and _xlfn.XLOOKUP: why your XLOOKUP opens as #NAME?
openpyxl writes formula text verbatim, so =XLOOKUP(...) is stored in the .xlsx under its plain name. Executed 2026-09-12: that cell is #NAME? in Excel for the web and in all four pinned LibreOffice builds, while =_xlfn.XLOOKUP(...) returns 20 in Excel for the web and in LibreOffice 24.8, 25.2 and 25.8.