TYPE

Quirk found

Category: Information · Last tested 2026-09-01

Real compatibility results for the 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)	Quirk found
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 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 TYPE working in LibreOffice?

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 TYPE working in Google Sheets?

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

=TYPE(A1:A3) on Excel for the web returned 1, but the documented/expected result is 64.
Provenance
MISMATCH vs expected: expected 64, got 1
=TYPE(A1:A3) on Google Sheets returned 1, but the documented/expected result is 64.
Provenance
MISMATCH vs expected: expected 64, got 1
=TYPE(TRUE) on LibreOffice Calc returned 1, but the documented/expected result is 4.
Provenance
MISMATCH vs expected: expected 4, got 1
=TYPE(A1:A3) on LibreOffice Calc returned 1, but the documented/expected result is 64.
Provenance
MISMATCH vs expected: expected 64, got 1

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
=TYPE(A1)	A number -> code 1	1	1	Matched
=TYPE(A1)	Text -> code 2	2	2	Matched
=TYPE(TRUE)	A logical/boolean value -> code 4	4	4	Matched
=TYPE(1/0)	An error value -> code 16. TYPE classifies the error's TYPE rather than propagating the error itself, matching ISERROR-style special-casing	16	16 Provenance Full 5-code table (1/2/4/16/64) confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/type-function-45b4e688-4bc3-48b3-a105-ffa892995899	Matched
=TYPE(A1:A3)	A multi-cell array/range reference -> code 64	1	64	Mismatch

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
=TYPE(A1)	A number -> code 1	1	1	Matched
=TYPE(A1)	Text -> code 2	2	2	Matched
=TYPE(TRUE)	A logical/boolean value -> code 4	4	4	Matched
=TYPE(1/0)	An error value -> code 16. TYPE classifies the error's TYPE rather than propagating the error itself, matching ISERROR-style special-casing	16	16 Provenance Full 5-code table (1/2/4/16/64) confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/type-function-45b4e688-4bc3-48b3-a105-ffa892995899	Matched
=TYPE(A1:A3)	A multi-cell array/range reference -> code 64	1	64	Mismatch

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=TYPE(A1)	A number -> code 1	1	1	Matched
=TYPE(A1)	Text -> code 2	2	2	Matched
=TYPE(TRUE)	A logical/boolean value -> code 4	1	4	Mismatch
=TYPE(1/0)	An error value -> code 16. TYPE classifies the error's TYPE rather than propagating the error itself, matching ISERROR-style special-casing	16	16 Provenance Full 5-code table (1/2/4/16/64) confirmed via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/type-function-45b4e688-4bc3-48b3-a105-ffa892995899	Matched
=TYPE(A1:A3)	A multi-cell array/range reference -> code 64	1	64	Mismatch

Docs & syntax

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

Where TYPE behaves differently

MAXA, MINA, AVERAGEA, VARPA vs MAX, MIN, AVERAGE, VAR.P
The A-variants count text as 0 and TRUE as 1; the plain ones ignore them. Executed: LibreOffice implements all four A-variants faithfully, but its VAR.P returns 8.2222 on {4, 8, TRUE} where Microsoft documents 4 and Google Sheets returns 4 - a silent wrong number in all four builds tested.
TYPE(TRUE): Excel 4 vs LibreOffice 1
Excel documents TYPE(TRUE) as 4 and TYPE(A1:A3) as 64; LibreOffice returns 1 for both. The booleans-are-numbers theme breaks logic that branches on TYPE codes.