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jojomartin845's avatar
jojomartin845
Copper Contributor
May 01, 2026
Solved

Put a specific word in a cell based on the word in another cell

Hey everyone, I need help automating the categorisation of my bank statement in excel. I do not have microsoft 365.  I want excel to look for specific words from my transactions eg Woolworths or McD...
excel
Excel on Mac
  • NikolinoDE's avatar
    NikolinoDE
    May 02, 2026

    You absolutely can do this without Microsoft 365, without array formulas, and without stress.

    In cell D2, put this formula:

    =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("WOOLWORTHS",C2)),"Groceries",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("MCDONALDS",C2)),"Eating Out",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("PRIME",C2)),"Streaming","")))

    Then drag down column D.

    How to add more rules

    Just replace the final "" with another IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("WORD",C2)),"Category", and close with "" at the end.

    Example with 5 rules:

    =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("WOOLWORTHS",C2)),"Groceries",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("MCDONALDS",C2)),"Eating Out",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("PRIME",C2)),"Streaming",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("AMAZON",C2)),"Shopping",""))))

     

    friendly tip…

    If a transaction doesn't match any word, the cell will stay blank. Just manually type the category for those few — or add another rule if you see a pattern.

     

    My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

     

    Hope this will help you.

     

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  • jojomartin845's avatar
    jojomartin845
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 08, 2026

    Hello, thank you so much for your worksheet! I did end up going with another contributor who used IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH 

    I did like the idea of your solution 2 because it was very cleanly laid out, but I couldn't get it to work. I may revisit your solutions if the other stopped working, but I wanted to personally thank you because you put so much effort into responding.