Richard,

An easy workaround is to run all the possible values together, as long as
they are sufficiently unique:

=IF(NOT(ISERROR(FIND(A1,"Word1 Word2 Word3
Word4"))),"Value1",IF(NOT(ISERROR(FIND(A1,"Word5 Word6 Word7
Word8"))),"Value2",IF(NOT(ISERROR(FIND(A1,"Word9 Word10 Word11
Word12"))),"Value3","Not Found")))

(All on one line) - make it as long as you want.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP

"Richard-44" wrote in message
...
I'm using Excel 2002, with SP-3 installed.

I'm trying to incorporate a constant array into an IF formula. If cell E3
contains one of 3 text entries (let's say A, B or C), I want another cell
(E4) to respond with a given text entry (let's say Z); if E3 contains one
of
4 other text entries (let's say D, E, F or G) I want E4 to respond with a
different text entry (let's say Y); or if E3 contains one of 5 other text
entries (let's say H, I , J, K, or L) I want E4 to respond with a
third-option text entry (let's say X).

Because simply nesting these 11 options overloads the 7-nest limit in IF;
I
want to use constant arrays for each of the three groups of possibilities,
and thereby set up only 3 nested IF/then formulae within a single formula.

But every time I use =IF(E3={"A","B","C"},"Z",8) only "A" creates "Z".
Any
other data (including "B" & "C") produce the negative (the 8). I've tried
Naming the array but that doesn't work either.

Any ideas?

Thanks