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NikolinoDE's avatar
NikolinoDE
Platinum Contributor
Jan 17, 2026

Only numeric values count

Empty or text-only ranges now correctly trigger #DIV/0!

That’s why:

Zeros → AVERAGE = 0

Empty → AVERAGE = #DIV/0!

This aligns Mac Excel with Windows Excel and Excel Online.

So when you open:

an old file

or even an older copy of Excel

the new calculation logic is applied, producing the same error everywhere.

general fix

=IFERROR(AVERAGE(A1:A10), 0)

This preserves your prior behavior explicitly.

If blanks should count as zero

=AVERAGE(IF(A1:A10="",0,A1:A10))

(Confirm with Cmd+Shift+Enter if not using dynamic arrays.)

 

Other functions affected similarly

This stricter behavior also applies to:

  • AVERAGEIF / AVERAGEIFS
  • STDEV, VAR
  • MIN, MAX (when all values are non-numeric)
  • Any function that divides by COUNT()

So it’s worth auditing any formulas that assumed empty = zero.

Bottom line

 Your understanding is correct

This was a calculation-engine change, not your mistake

Your workaround is the correct long-term approach

 

My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

 

Hope this will help you.

 

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