Reason: Excel is unable to output a spilt array as it extends beyond the spreadsheet edges. In such situation, an error message says - Spill range is unknown.įor example, the following formula throws a #SPILL! error because the RANDBETWEEN output continuously changes and SEQUENCE does not know how many values to generate: When using volatile functions such as RANDARRAY, RAND or RANDBETWEEN in combination with dynamic array functions, a #SPILL error may occur because the array returned by a volatile function changes between the spreadsheet's calculations and the "wrapper" function cannot determine its size. Solution: Try to work out a different formula for your task. Reason: Excel is unable to establish the size of the spilt array. Alternatively, you can move your formula beyond the table boundaries. For this, right-click anywhere within the table, and then click Table > Convert to Range. In this case, the best thing you could do is to convert table to range. To confirm the root cause of the problem, click an icon with an exclamation mark, and you will see this text in the first line - Spill range in table. It's not quite clear why dynamic array formulas do not work from within Excel tables (maybe because of the specific syntax of structured references), but anyway these two very useful things do not get along :( Solution: Convert the table to a normal range or place the formula outside the table to allow it to spill. Reason: Dynamic arrays are not supported in Excel tables. If you have difficulties detecting the merged cells visually, make use of Select Obstructing Cells option to jump to the problematic cells: In case there are one or more merged cells in a projected spilled array, the following error message is displayed - Spill range has merged cell. Solution: Unmerge cells in the spilled area or move the formula to another location that has no merged cells. Reason: Spilling does not work with merged cells. To clear blocking cells, go to the Home tab > Editing group, and click Clear > Clear All. In the screenshot below, the obstructing cell is A6, which contains an empty string ("") returned by the formula. Click Select Obstructing Cells, and Excel will show you which cells prevent the formula from spilling. Underneath it, there are a number of options. To detect such cells, click a warning sign, and you will see this explanation - Spill range isn't blank. The problem may be in invisible characters such as a space lurking in some cells, or formulas returning an empty string. In some situations, however, a spill range may look blank, but in fact it is not. So, either remove the existing data from the spill area or move the formula to another location where there is no blockage. In a simplest scenario, just click the formula cell and you will see a dashed border indicating the spill range boundaries - any data inside it is an obstacle. Solution: Clear the expected spill range. Reason: The area to be populated with the formula results contains non-empty cells.
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Once you determined the cause, please find the corresponding example below with the detailed instructions on how to resolve that particular case. To know the exact root of the problem, click the warning icon (a yellow diamond with an exclamation point), and read the message in the first line highlighted in grey: To fix an error, you'll have to investigate each case individually and determine the root of the problem.Īs mentioned above, a #SPILL! error might be caused by various reasons. Or, you might have run into one of the very few features that do not support dynamic arrays. Or the same formula copied across the entire column blocks a spill range. Perhaps, one or more cells in the spilled area contain a space or a non-printing character invisible to a human eye. For instance, if your formula is expected to return more than one value, but the nearby cells are filled with some other data, simply delete that data, and an error will be gone.īut sometimes the reasons are not so obvious and therefore confusing. And if something on the sheet prevents filling that range, a #SPILL! error occurs.įor the most part, this behavior is understandable and predictable. A range of cells containing the results is called a spill range. Please notice, any formula, even the ones that were not initially designed to handle arrays. With the launch of dynamic arrays in Excel 365, any formula that produces multiple calculation results automatically "spills" those results into neighboring cells.
Generally, a #SPILL! error occurs when a formula produces multiple results but cannot output them all on the sheet.īefore we dive into specific use cases, let's get a general understanding of spilling in Excel.
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