Nested Functions input

BobsYourUncle54 

You wrote (and I'm excerpting):

20 - 25 years ago I used to create a lot of sheets for various tasks, some of which are still in use today. Many of my formulas were heavily reliant on nesting, to address a number of variables in 1 formula. They were easy to create and worked flawlessly. Most were nested IF.

... I have come back to Excel after minimal use for the past 20 years and using 365....  Is there a way to invoke another argument box within the "value if false" box? or do I now have to rely on writing all subsequent arguments by hand myself in that little entry box? It seems this is a step backwards from over 20 years ago. Maybe I'm too rusty now and I'm missing that feature somewhere.

I am rusty, and have to sit and think my formulas through carefully. ....   Any thoughts anyone?

First of all, I am delighted to find a person whose experience so much reflects my own. Back in the 80s and 90s I was (relatively speaking) a "power user." I retired in 2002 from my corporate career, from paid employment in general...but continue to love using Excel. I'd much rather create an elegant spreadsheet than, say, play a video game.

But what I've discovered since stumbling across this website back a few months ago is how much Excel has progressed (i.e. changed) in that nearly two decades.

To speak directly to your question, if you haven't already discovered it, there's a function I don't recall from those early days that in some ways works more clearly than nested IF statements. It's IFS, as in the plural. When you start to enter it you'll see:

and basically you keep entering a series of logical tests, each followed by an IfTrue consequence. I would commend to you the Excel Help text on that function, IF, that is, your heart is set on deeply nesting conditionals.

Another thing to bear in mind, however, is that deep nesting Functions--resulting in long formulas--although intellectually satisfying and fun when they work their magic ("been there; done that," myself), they're also breeding grounds for errors, hard to debug when those errors are recognized. Most textbooks on Excel recommend against deep nesting of Functions, even though do-able, for exactly those reasons. Create "helper columns," break the different levels of conditionals (or whatever it is that you're nesting) into separate cells that are easily understood, make sure it's working...have a summary cell that takes and displays the final result. Then "Column....Hide" those "helper columns" so they're not cluttering up the screen.

By all means, though, go do some updating of yourself on what Excel hath wrought over the last twenty years. It's amazing. Dig into Dynamic Arrays and the new Array Functions (FILTER, UNIQUE, etc.)....  I've not had a need yet to user Power Query, but am on the lookout for a way to apply it.

And welcome to the techcommunity web site. You'll no doubt be able--if you hang around--to answer many of the questions you'll see from this next generation. And you'll learn in the process.