I’m working on a Google Sheets document to monitor my sales commissions. I get paid extra commission when deals come from specific clients. I want to create a “Commission” column that shows “Earned” or “Not Earned” based on the client name.
I need help with a formula that checks multiple names at once. Something like checking if column A contains “Robert Wilson”, “Lisa Davis”, or “Michael Thompson”. If any of these names appear, it should display “Earned”. If none of these names match, it should show “Not Earned”.
Is there a way to write an IF formula that can look for several different values in one column? I tried using basic IF but I can only check one condition at a time. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Use the OR function with IF: =IF(OR(A2="Robert Wilson",A2="Lisa Davis",A2="Michael Thompson"),"Earned","Not Earned"). Just swap A2 for your actual cell.
I do this all the time in my expense sheets. OR checks multiple conditions at once - if any match, you get “Earned”. No matches = “Not Earned”.
Watch out for spelling and spacing though. The formula’s case-sensitive and needs exact matches. I’ve been burned by extra spaces in names before. If you need partial matches, try SEARCH or FIND instead.
OR works but gets messy with long client lists. Add more names later and you’ll constantly edit that formula.
I had this exact problem tracking vendor payments at work. Started with a simple IF statement, then had 20+ vendor names to check. The formula became impossible to manage.
What actually solved it - I moved the logic outside Google Sheets entirely. Set up an automation that watches the sheet, checks new entries against a client database, and updates commission status automatically.
No more formula headaches. No manual updates when client lists change. Just clean data.
The automation handles partial name matches too, so “R. Wilson” still triggers “Robert Wilson” rules. Way more flexible than sheet formulas.
You can build this workflow in about 10 minutes with the right automation platform. Check out https://latenode.com
Try using COUNTIF with your client names in a separate range. Put “Robert Wilson”, “Lisa Davis”, “Michael Thompson” in cells D1:D3. Then use =IF(COUNTIF($D$1:$D$3,A2)>0,"Earned","Not Earned"). This saved me tons of time with commission tracking at my last job. When management added new high-value clients, I just updated the reference range instead of editing the formula every time. Way cleaner than a massive OR statement. COUNTIF checks if your client name exists in that range. Count greater than zero = “Earned”. The dollar signs lock the range when you copy the formula down.