OR function in Excel - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

The OR function helps you check if at least one condition is true. It is useful when you want to test multiple things and see if any of them happen.

When you want to see if a student passed any of several exams.

When you need to check if a product is either in stock or on sale.

When you want to find out if a date is either before or after a certain day.

When you want to highlight rows where any of several conditions are met.

When you want to decide if a task should be done based on multiple possible triggers.

Steps

Step 1: Click

- the cell where you want the result

The cell is selected and ready for input

Step 2: Type

- the formula bar

The formula starts appearing in the cell

💡 Start with an equal sign (=) to begin the formula

Step 3: Enter

- the OR function with conditions, for example: =OR(A1>10, B1<5)

The formula checks if A1 is greater than 10 or B1 is less than 5

Step 4: Press

- Enter key

The cell shows TRUE if any condition is true, or FALSE if none are true

Step 5: Copy

- the cell with the OR formula

The formula can be applied to other rows or cells as needed

Before vs After

Before

Cell C1 is empty

After

Cell C1 shows TRUE if A1 is 15 and B1 is 3, because A1>10 or B1<5 is true

Settings Reference

Arguments

📍 Inside the OR function parentheses

These are the conditions OR tests to see if any are true

Default: No default, you must provide at least one condition

Common Mistakes

Forgetting to start the formula with =

Excel will treat the input as text, not a formula

Always start formulas with an equal sign, like =OR(...)

Using text without quotes inside OR, like OR(A1=Yes)

Excel does not recognize Yes without quotes as text

Put text values inside quotes, like OR(A1="Yes")

Entering only one condition without commas

OR expects conditions separated by commas

Separate multiple conditions with commas, like OR(A1>10, B1<5)

Summary

The OR function checks if any one of multiple conditions is true.

It returns TRUE if at least one condition is true, otherwise FALSE.

Remember to start with = and separate conditions with commas.