Quick Links
-
Text Strings Included in Formulas
-
Determining the Prompts when Using COPILOT
-
Returning and Representing Blank Cells (Empty Strings]
-
Add a Space to Join Text
-
Displaying Quote Marks within Text Strings In Microsoft Excel they have a completely different function. They can actually help improve formulas, allow you to interact with AI and tidy up your spreadsheets.
Include text strings in formulas
Text strings are one of the more common ways to use double quotes with Microsoft Excel. Imagine that you are a teacher. You have a table in your Excel sheet with the student IDs (column A), their scores (column B), and a Status column that is blank. This will be where you evaluate each of their scores. If the score column contains a 50-point value, then you should return pass to the row of Status. If the value of the Score column falls below 50 you will want to use the words FAIL. Let’s take a look at the formula before I explain it. Imagine that you want to return numbers instead of the words “19459039” Pass and FAIL. The IF formula for this would be:
=IF([@Score]>=50,1,2)
Meaning that if a row’s score is higher than 50 or lower, then the result will be 1. The result will be 2 if it is not.
If you type a formula in one cell of a table in Excel and then press Enter, the formula is duplicated automatically in all the other cells in that column. It saves time from manually copying and pasting the formula or using the fill handle. You don’t have to put double quotes in this formula because the values are numbers. Double quotes are required for the pass or failreturn values. Excel cannot find the numerical values it is searching for. You can see in the above example that double quotes were used to specify textual values within a logical equation. The same rule applies for any argument containing text within a formula. The formula D2 uses quotations around the value of the lookup:
=COUNTIF (T_Cities[Favorite City]”London”)
If the quotation marks were not used, Excel would have returned zero, because it couldn’t connect the value of the lookup to the range specified. The formula in D2 uses quotation marks around the lookup value:
=COUNTIF(T_Cities[Favorite City]”London”)
Failing to include the quotation marks in this case would return zero because Excel can’t link the lookup values to the specified range. Cell references are a better alternative to hard-coding formula values. One of the benefits is you do not need to remember double quotes to reference cells.
Determining prompts when using the COPILOT Function.
Excel’s COPILOT uses artificial intelligence (AI) to produce responses based on a prompt that you enter. Microsoft Insiders are currently using the COPILOT feature in preview.
As of the date this article was written (August 2025), it is still available for download. Microsoft advises you to use the “native Excel [functions] for any task requiring accuracy or reproducibility.”
syntax instead of the “uses AI and can give incorrect responses,” COPILOT function. Imagine you have gathered feedback on the new coffee maker you recently installed at work. You want to categorize the feedback into positive and negative comments using the COPILOT function. In cell E4, you must embed the prompt argumentwithin double quotation marks:
=COPILOT(“Classify this feedback”D4:D18).
This is what you will see after pressing Enter:
Since the context argument was a range, it is now a dynamic array. Excel will return a #VALUE error if you don’t put quotation marks around the prompt when using COPILOT.
Representing and Returning Blank Cells (Empty Strings)
One of the most practical uses of double quotes in Excel is to represent–well–nothing! As absurd as it may sound, this is a good way to maintain your spreadsheet and keep formula errors at bay. Let’s take this example. You only want to display the score of each player once they have completed all three round. You want to leave the cell blank if they don’t complete all three rounds.
To do this, in cell E2, type:
=IF(COUNTA(B2:D2)=3,SUM(B2:D2),””)
and press Enter. In this example, I have used a range instead of an Excel table to make the formula shorter and more readable. You can see that cell E2, which contains an argument for SUM, is still blank. This is why
: If three cells are not blank in the range of B2 toD2 ( IF(COUNTA (B2:D2)=3 ), then their values will be added ( SUM(B2;D2)). If the total number of cells that are not blank in B2 toD2 is less than three (“”), the formula will return a blank row. Double-clicking the fill handle at the bottom right corner of cell E2 will apply the formula only to other cells within column E. Allcorresponding values from columns B,C,and D will be returned. The double quotes are useful in this situation because they hide incomplete totals, making it easier to analyze the totals that have been completed. Double quotes are a great way to use in Excel. I particularly like the function called “IFERROR”. This example is tracking the goal-per-game of 10 players. In order to do so, I entered
=[@Goals]/[@Games]
into cell D2 and, when I hit Enter, Excel duplicated this formula along the entire column.
But, since player C hasn’t played a game, the formula returns #DIV/0. In cell D4, enter #DIV/0! In this case, the formula is to divide the values in the Games column by the values in the Goals column. The if-error value should be a blank cell, represented by two double quotes:
=IFERROR ( x and y the return value if an error occurs. The error will be hidden.
Here, we are dividing the value in the Games column with the value in the Goals cell. As the formula contains the division calculations, the value will be displayed as soon as a number greater than zero is entered in B4. Remember that using IFERROR to conceal errors can make it more difficult to identify calculation errors. It is for this reason that I tend to only use it when the #DIV/0 would otherwise appear. #DIV/0!
Add a Delimiter (Space) when Joining Text in Microsoft Excel
You can join text using a variety of methods, such as the ampersand symbol (&), or by selecting from a number of Excel functions. Double quotes are useful if you need to insert a space between values that you have merged.
Delimiters are characters, symbols, or spaces used to separate elements in a series. For example, a delimiter is used to separate a first and last name, while a delimiter is also needed between the file name and its extension. You can do this by using the ampersand:
For example, let’s take two people’s names from column A and B, and combine them in column C. But, it’s important to remember to leave space between both names. This can be done using an ampersand.
is[@First]and” “[@Last]
Where
- [@First] uses the first name in the First column,
- ” “ double quotes on either side of the space tells Excel that it should add a delimiter for the space,
- [@Last] The TEXTJOIN functions can be used to combine the names of the first and the last with a blank space in between.
=TEXTJOIN (” “=TRUE,[@First]=FALSE,[@Last]=TRUE]
]
-
” “ [aTheCONCATfunctioncanbeusedtoaccomplishthesamething: =CONCAT([@First]” “[@Last]]
Where the CONCAT joins all arguments together, one of which is the space that separates text from First from Last. You can insert any character between the double quotations, such as a period (or a hyphen), forward slash or an asterisk, in all of the above examples.
Double quotes and text strings
You may be wondering what to do. Here’s where it can become complicated. There’s a simpler way around this. If you wanted to type the following formula into an Excel cell, it would be confusing and cause Excel to return errors. Okay, let’s put the entire thing inside double quotes.
=”She said, “Hi. The second option””
doesn’t either work because Excel believes that the double quotes are the end of the string. The entire text string from hello to the end cannot be understood. Let’s try again to add double quotes this time around Hi :
=She said””hello. You get what you want this time. When two double quotes (or escape double quotes) are combined, they become a single double quote that is treated as text. In the above formula, the double quotes represent the beginning of the string of text, followed by the escape character of the third character, then the escape character of the fourth character, and finally the ending of the string of text.
This is for those who find the sight of so many double quotations a bit overwhelming. There’s a simpler way to do it. Entering the following:
=”She said, “&CHAR (34)&”Hello.”&CHAR (34)
returns the intended result. The double quotes either side of text are telling Excel that you’d like to get a text. CHAR(34), the code for a return double quote, is what Excel uses.
Excel has other special characters that have specific functions. Even though they look the same, curly brackets, parentheses and square brackets all serve very specific functions. On the subject of Excel symbols, you should also learn what the # symbol does.