ISREF Function in Excel: Is It a Valid Reference?

⏱ 1 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

InformationLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Related functions

ISREF returns TRUE when its argument is a reference. With INDIRECT it checks whether a sheet name typed by a user exists.

Syntax

=ISREF(value)
Argument What it means
value Usually INDIRECT(…).

Examples

Example 1

=ISREF(INDIRECT("'"&A2&"'!A1"))

TRUE if a sheet named in A2 exists.

INDIRECT · SHEET

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