Excel AND, OR and NOT — Logical Functions (with Examples)

What does it do?

AND, OR, and NOT are logical functions that let you test multiple conditions at once inside IF formulas. AND returns TRUE only when every condition is true. OR returns TRUE when at least one condition is true. NOT reverses any logical value. They are the building blocks of complex conditional logic in Excel.

Syntax

=AND(logical1, logical2, ...) =OR(logical1, ...) =NOT(logical)

Argument	Description
=AND(logical1, logical2, ...) =OR(logical1, ...) =NOT(logical)
logical1 required	A condition that evaluates to TRUE or FALSE.
[logical2] ... optional	Additional conditions. AND/OR accept up to 255 conditions.

Real examples

Example 1

Pass only if score AND attended

=IF(AND(B2>=50, C2="Attended"), "Pass", "Fail")

Both conditions must be true.

Example 2

Bonus if senior OR top performer

=IF(OR(C2="Senior", B2>=90), "Bonus", "Standard")

Either condition qualifies.

Example 3

Flag values NOT in a list

=IF(NOT(ISNUMBER(MATCH(A2,ValidList,0))), "Invalid", "OK")

NOT reverses the TRUE/FALSE result.

Example 4

Three conditions with AND

=IF(AND(A2="Active",B2>0,C2<TODAY()), "Alert", "")

All three must be true to trigger the alert.

Example 5

OR across multiple values

=IF(OR(A2="London",A2="Manchester",A2="Birmingham"), "UK City", "Other")

Check if a value is one of several options.

FAQ

Can AND and OR be nested?

Yes. =IF(AND(A2="Active", OR(B2="Gold",B2="Platinum")), "VIP", "Standard") requires Active AND (Gold OR Platinum).

What is the difference between AND in a condition vs two separate IFs?

Nested IFs check conditions sequentially. AND checks all conditions simultaneously. AND is cleaner and more readable for 2-3 conditions.

Does NOT work with text?

Yes. =NOT(A2="Closed") returns TRUE if A2 is anything other than "Closed".

When to use AND, OR and NOT in practice

The most common use of AND and OR is inside IF formulas — they let you test multiple conditions without writing deeply nested IFs. Instead of =IF(A2="Active",IF(B2>100,"Yes","No"),"No"), you write =IF(AND(A2="Active",B2>100),"Yes","No") — one IF, two conditions, much cleaner.

AND is also used in data validation rules and conditional formatting to apply formatting only when several criteria are met simultaneously. OR is useful in SUMIF and COUNTIF alternatives when you want to match any one of several values.

NOT is less commonly used on its own but becomes powerful combined with other functions. NOT(ISBLANK(A2)) checks whether a cell is non-empty. NOT(ISNUMBER(MATCH(A2,list,0))) checks whether a value is absent from a list.

💡 AND/OR in SUMPRODUCT

SUMPRODUCT lets you use AND logic (multiply conditions) or OR logic (add conditions) for conditional sums without SUMIFS: =SUMPRODUCT((A2:A100="North")*(B2:B100="Coffee")*C2:C100) sums Coffee sales in North using AND logic.

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Excel AND, OR & NOTexplained simply