What Is the TEXTJOIN Function in Excel & When Should You Use It?

If you’ve ever needed to combine multiple cell values into a single cell, Excel’s TEXTJOIN function is your best friend. It’s smarter and cleaner than CONCATENATE or ampersands (&), especially when dealing with blanks and custom separators.

🔧 Syntax:

=TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, [text2], ...)

• delimiter – The text separator you want between values (e.g., ", ", " | ", "-").
• ignore_empty – Use TRUE to skip empty cells; FALSE to include them.
• text1, text2, ... – The values or cell ranges to join.

📘 Examples

• =TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A1:A5)
  → Joins values from A1 to A5 with commas, ignoring blanks.
• =TEXTJOIN(" - ", FALSE, "Name", "", "Age")
  → Result: "Name - - Age"
• =TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10), TRUE, B1:B3)
  → Joins cells with a line break (useful for addresses).

🎯 Why Use TEXTJOIN Instead of CONCATENATE?

• Handles ranges instead of needing individual cells.
• Lets you skip empty cells automatically.
• Simplifies formulas in structured datasets.

✅ Best Use Cases

• Combine first, middle, and last names into one cell.
• Build address lines from separate cells.
• Join multiple tags or categories into a single field for export.

⚠️ Notes

• Available in Excel 2019 and Microsoft 365 only.
• Large ranges may slow down performance if used excessively in huge workbooks.

📌 Final Thought

TEXTJOIN is a clean, powerful tool that gives you full control over how text values are combined. Whether you're working on reports, forms, or dashboards — it's a must-learn for Excel productivity!

📥 Download our full TEXTJOIN demo file and practice workbook on ScriptDataInsights Gumroad.