How to Fix: “You’ve entered too many arguments…” Excel Error
We can’t imagine Microsoft Excel without formulas and functions.
But when you finally enter your formula, Excel tells you that “You’ve entered too many arguments for this function” ⚠️
This is an Excel error. So, how do we fix it? 🛠️
In this tutorial, we’ll teach you what causes this Excel error and what you can do to fix it.
Let’s get to it right away 😊
You can practice alongside me by downloading the attached workbook.
Table of Contents
Why do you get the “You’ve entered too many arguments…” error
A Sales commission calculation using an IF function is shown in the data set below.
To calculate the commission amounts, use the formula below 👇
=IF(D2>100%,IF(D2>120%,C2*2%,$C2*1%),0)
In the above example, you have to input data correctly to function.
You can do some changes to the above function to understand the reasons for this error.
The error “You’ve entered too many arguments for this function” can happen due to the following reasons:
- You have not closed all the parentheses properly.
For example, if you miss closing the parentheses of the inside IF function, you will encounter this error.
You can enter the same formula without closing the end parentheses of the inner function.
You can write the below formula and test it.
=IF(D2>100%,IF(D2>120%,C2*2%,$C2*1%,0)
- You have placed a comma in an incorrect place.
For example, if you mistakenly entered a comma before you close the last parenthesis of the function, Excel will not get you the answer.
=IF(D2>100%,IF(D2>120%,C2*2%,$C2*1%,0)
- The number of arguments entered does not match the syntax of the function.
The IF function, for example, accepts three arguments.
You would run into the same error if you tried to give this function more than three arguments.
Assume you’ve made a mistake.
You added a fourth value argument to the end function after the third one.
To test this, enter the Excel formula below.
=IF(D2>100%,IF(D2>120%,C2*2%,$C2*1%),0,1)
How to fix the error
You can correct this error by doing the following:
- Ensure that all parenthesis are correctly closed.
Pairs of parenthesis appear in different colors in Excel. The first and last parentheses of the formula are highlighted in black.
If your formula’s final parenthesis is not black, it signals you did not close parentheses properly.
You can see that the final parenthesis is not black in the example where you omitted to include a parenthesis.
Therefore, a parenthesis must be placed before the highlighted comma.
Pro Tip:
Before entering the function inside those parentheses, insert both the left and right parentheses.
It will guarantee that you properly close all parentheses.
- Make sure all the comma marks are properly in place.
- Always match the number of arguments in your formula to the function’s syntax.
For the IF function, you can enter a maximum of 3 parameters. So, in the below case, you have to remove the additional argument.
Other examples of the error
TRIM function
To remove leading and trailing spaces you can use the Excel TRIM function.
The syntax of the TRIM function is TRIM(Text).
So, you can enter only one argument at a time for this function 😊
If you select two or more arguments for this function, you will see this error message.
SUMIF function
For example, if you have entered the SUMIF function you have to enter only the following parameters.
- Required arguments
-
- Range (Criteria range)
- Criteria
- Optional arguments
-
- Sum range
If you enter more than 3 arguments for the SUMIF formula you will get the “You’ve entered too many arguments…” error ⚠️
For the SUMIF function, you have to enter at least two arguments. Otherwise, you will get that you’ve entered too few arguments error for this function.
Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office SpecialistThat’s it – Now what?
See? The Excel error “You’ve entered too many arguments for this function” is nothing to be worried about 😉
Now that you know why this happens in Excel, you can prevent it by carefully typing your formula, or you can just go back to your formula and find what you may have missed 👍
Do you know what happens if you do the same mistake when you are writing a VBA code in Excel? You will get a “Run-time error ‘1004’: Application-defined or object-defined error.”
Interested in writing a VBA code? Before you jump to VBA, you need to first learn about Excel macros. Macros help you to accomplish 50 things with just a single click! 🤯
Sounds awesome? Join my 30-minute free online course 📧 about Excel’s Mighty Macros and use Excel at a new mighty level.
Other resources
Have you got #NAME? error when you tried to enter the IFS function? Click here to learn how to fix 🛠️ this issue. Or read our latest article about the Full List of ALL Excel Errors and How to Fix Them to get more insight 💡
If you like to learn how to fix circular reference problems in an Excel sheet, click here 👈