Spreadsheet users struggle with range-based text matching
Spreadsheet users need to check whether cells match values in a reference list or contain any of its terms, often across many rows. Writing formulas for this can require listing terms manually or adapting formulas to fit conditional formatting; inconsistent treatment of blanks can also make duplicate checks misleading. The signals show specific formula needs, not how many users would pay for a dedicated tool.
For spreadsheet users managing reference lists. Mentioned from Nov 2023 to Aug 2025 on Stack Exchange.
4 different people described this problem in 4 separate discussions.
- Indie fit
- 3.0/10
- Pain
- 4.5/10
- Frequency
- 5.8/10
- Willingness to pay
- 0.0/10
- Momentum
- 5.0/10
- Who pays
- Professionals
- Competition
- High
- Build difficulty
- Medium
What people said
Quoted word for word. Follow a link to read the whole discussion.
but in reality I have to search for values in a range, so can't list every term manually. How can I solve this?
I also need it to be contained to one cell's worth of code so I can use it in Conditional Formatting
Build brief
See what to build and who will buy it
- 1 product idea with the smallest useful version and pricing
- 3 places to find your first customers
- 2 more quotes from people who have this problem
- Current workarounds, existing solutions and risks