In Excel: use =TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, range) — it joins a whole range into one string, putting your delimiter between items and optionally skipping blank cells. Function availability: TEXTJOIN: Excel 2019+. These are Microsoft's version markers; earlier perpetual releases do not include these functions. Check the actual product and update channel before using the formula. A marker does not establish an identical Web/Mac workflow or Google Sheets support.
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Syntax
Arguments
| Argument | required / optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
delimiter | required | The text placed between each item, such as ", " for a comma-separated list. |
ignore_empty | required | TRUE skips blank cells (so no double delimiters); FALSE keeps them. |
text1 | required | The first cell, range or string to join, such as A2:A6. |
text2, ... | optional | Optional further cells, ranges or strings to append. |
Related functions
Function availability: TEXTJOIN: Excel 2019+. These are Microsoft's version markers; earlier perpetual releases do not include these functions. Check the actual product and update channel before using the formula. A marker does not establish an identical Web/Mac workflow or Google Sheets support.
In the result cell type =TEXTJOIN( and type the delimiter in quotes, such as ", " for a comma-separated list.
Type a comma, then TRUE to skip blank cells (or FALSE to keep them).
Type a comma and select the range to join, such as A2:A6.
Close the bracket and press Enter to see the combined string.
Add more comma-separated ranges or cells before the closing bracket if the values are spread out.
What this does
TEXTJOIN joins many values into one string with a delimiter you set once, and it accepts a whole range rather than item-by-item arguments — its two big advantages over CONCATENATE. The first argument is the separator (for example ", "), the second decides whether blank cells are skipped (TRUE) or kept as empty slots (FALSE), and then you point it at a cell, a range, or several of them. With ignore_empty TRUE you never get doubled-up delimiters from gaps in the data. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “excel textjoin function”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected formula visible, and compare the result with the outcome you expected before you touch the real workbook. When a formula is involved, keep the inputs labelled beside it, reference cells instead of typing values, and apply number formatting only after the result checks out. The point is a text operation that turns messy entries into clean, usable data, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.
A worked example
Tags sit in A2:A6 as "red", "", "blue", "", "green" with two blanks. =TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A2:A6) returns "red, blue, green" — the comma-space separates each value and the empty cells are skipped, so there are no ", ," gaps. With FALSE instead of TRUE it would return "red, , blue, , green", keeping the blanks as empty entries. TEXTJOIN is the modern way to build delimited lists from a column — comma-separated tags, address lines, email recipients — joining a range in one step and skipping the blanks. Check the referenced cells, argument order and result type in your workbook. Start with the worked example before changing an input, then compare the changed result with the calculation you expected. An error value or a result of a different type is a reason to inspect the inputs and arguments.
In Google Sheets
Function availability: TEXTJOIN: Excel 2019+. These are Microsoft's version markers; earlier perpetual releases do not include these functions. Check the actual product and update channel before using the formula. A marker does not establish an identical Web/Mac workflow or Google Sheets support. Nothing on this page is behind a login or a download: the exact answer is at the top, and the detail below it is there for when you need it. That is the whole promise here — the answer first, and just enough context to make it stick. For “excel textjoin function”, keep the input cells and the result visible while you check the formula in Excel. Follow the worked example and change one input at a time. The steps explain the workbook calculation; this page does not run a live calculator for that task.
Common mistakes
- Swapping the first two arguments — the delimiter comes first and ignore_empty second, not the other way around.
- Leaving ignore_empty as FALSE on data with gaps, which produces ugly doubled delimiters like "red, , blue".
- Forgetting the quotes around the delimiter, so a literal separator such as ", " is misread and the formula errors.
Frequently asked questions
How is TEXTJOIN better than CONCATENATE?
TEXTJOIN takes a whole range at once, sets the separator a single time instead of inserting it between every pair, and can skip blank cells automatically — three things CONCATENATE cannot do.
How do I stop empty cells from adding extra delimiters?
Set the second argument, ignore_empty, to TRUE. TEXTJOIN then skips blank cells entirely, so a range with gaps joins cleanly without ", ," runs.
Can TEXTJOIN use a line break as the delimiter?
Yes — use CHAR(10) as the delimiter, =TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10), TRUE, A2:A6), and turn on Wrap Text in the cell so each joined value appears on its own line.
Which Excel release does this formula require?
Function availability: TEXTJOIN: Excel 2019+. These are Microsoft's version markers; earlier perpetual releases do not include these functions. Check the actual product and update channel before using the formula. A marker does not establish an identical Web/Mac workflow or Google Sheets support.