--- title: "Writing Formulas in Excel vs Stackby" description: "Discover how writing formulas in Stackby simplifies and enhances your workflow compared to Excel." url: https://help.stackby.com/en/articles/27-writing-formulas-in-excel-vs-stackby collection: "Using Formulas" updated: 2025-01-10 language: en --- # Writing Formulas in Excel vs Stackby Discover how writing formulas in Stackby simplifies and enhances your workflow compared to Excel. If you're an excel or google sheet user who just loves formulas, and are just getting started with Stackby, this article is for you! While the fundamentals of formulas remain the same, there are some differences you can learn as you become a Stackby Formula Expert. ## **Terminology: Excel Formulas vs Stackby Formulas**

Excel	Excel Use	Stackby	Stackby Use
Workbook	An Excel file	Stack	A stack is like a file, containing any number of tables
Worksheet or Sheet	Separate sheets within a workbook	Table
N/A	Views not available in excel	View	One of the most powerful features in Stackby, views allow you to visualize your table data in different ways (Kanban, Calendar, Form, Gallery)
Column	Vertical collection of cells (Eg. Column C)	Column	Different column types that display data to all cells in that column. Eg. Single option for status, Attachments for files
Row	Horizontal collection of cells (Eg. Row 7)	Row	A single record that contains all information stored within columns
Cell	Individual cell referenced from column + row (Eg. C7, A4, B3)	Cell	An individual cell that is part of a row

## **Stackby is like a spreadsheet and a database** Excel = traditional spreadsheets, Stackby = Spreadsheets + Databases In a spreadsheet (like Excel or Google sheets), you can only structure information in a grid with expected formats (Number, Text, Date/Time) within columns, rows and cells. In a database, you can create relationships between different rows across tables to create powerful data links that opens up more capabilities for data structuring, entry, auto-calculations and more. Stackby also allows you to visualize your table information beyond a grid, with powerful views like Kanban (Pipeline), Calendar, Drag and Drop Form Builder, Gallery and more. ## **Stackby formulas reference entire columns, not specific cells** In a spreadsheet (like Excel or Google sheets), you can put a formula in any cell, and have it reference any other cell in the sheet. Stackby is a relational database so formulas are applied for the entire column so that the same formula applies to every row in that column. **Excel** In excel, any specific cell can be referenced in another cell. For example, to identify the source of each purchase in a table, you would write a formula that referenced each cell - like A2 - to check for the type of source it is. ```javascript Example : =IF(A3='Online','Web','Store') ``` ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/Hyrk0KawVTCL48VK8FzCFF6QYfqhCmM4CJWpSmTM91qzhj1ftwLm4b5UMta9rqX72tjBZaenD6f.png) **Stackby** Whereas in Stackby, A formula is always applied to an entire column, rather than specific cells. For example, to identify the source of each purchase, you would write one formula to reference the {Purchase Type} field, and the formula will check that field for every row in the table. ```javascript Example : IF({Num1}<{Num2},"Yes it is", "Not it is") ``` ![](https://d258lu9myqkejp.cloudfront.net/attachment_images/bf53cbb2559339ca0ebb0cf5f68797fc6758d777b6c64a69271ec5fa4cb699291657523886169.png) ## **Stackby formulas work within a table, not across a stack** Similar to the above, Stackby formulas by default only reference columns within the same table. However, there are ways to bring over a value from a different table such as (lookup, aggregation) in order to reference it in a formula field. **Excel** To reference a record in another table, you have to write specific references to the other table using a format. **Stackby** To reference a row in another table, you can first link them by using the linked column type. Once a row in one table, like projects, is linked to a row in another table, like tasks, you can reference either column from either table by using a lookup, aggregation, or lookup count.