MAXA in Collabora Office: Find a Maximum When Text Counts as Zero
Use MAXA in Collabora Office with negative-only data, text labels, empty inputs and checks that explain zero-valued results.
Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked
Quick answer: MAXA returns the maximum of its arguments, assigning text a value of zero. For numeric -12, -4, -9 and text Pending, its independently expected result is 0, not -4.
Availability and version history
- Introduced: original Collabora release and launch date are not established by the sources reviewed.
- Availability: documented in Collabora Office 26.04 help, scoped to the desktop-help release.
- Platform scope: online and mobile deployments are not inferred from desktop documentation.
- Checked: October 14, 2026. Function-specific documentation and independent calculations; no native Collabora test was performed.
Syntax and documented limits
=MAXA(argument1;[argument2];...)
The Collabora reference permits up to 255 arguments, including numbers, text, cell references and ranges. A range is an argument, so this is not a limit of 255 source cells. Text counts as zero; the documented no-value case also returns zero when no numeric value, text value or error is encountered.
The formulas use English function names and semicolon separators. Worked text inputs are ordinary nonnumeric labels. Their role is deliberately visible rather than hidden inside an imported-data coercion assumption.
Example 1: avoid an unexpected zero in negative data
Enter A2:A5 as numeric -12, numeric -4, text Pending, numeric -9.
=MAXA(A2:A5)
=MAX(A2:A5)
Expected results are 0 and -4. MAX ignores text in this range; MAXA compares the three negatives with the text’s zero contribution. The direct control =MAXA(-12;-4;"Pending";-9) likewise has expected result 0.
In a register of negative adjustments, zero may misleadingly suggest that a nonnegative adjustment exists. It does not: the source contains no numeric zero. Check the input types before reporting MAXA’s result as an observed measurement.
Example 2: compare positive and negative controls
With numeric 14, numeric 8, and text Pending in C2:C4:
=MAXA(C2:C4)
Expected result: 14. The text’s zero is smaller than both numeric values, so it does not change the maximum. Replacing the two numbers with -14 and -8 changes the expected result to 0.
If Pending is then replaced by numeric -20, the expected maximum becomes -8. The difference comes from replacing a text-as-zero contribution with an actual negative observation, rather than from changing the ranking rule.
Advanced example: audit the meaning of a zero maximum
Build these separate two-cell ranges:
- E2:E3: numeric 0, numeric -5
- G2:G3: text Pending, numeric -5
- I2:I3: genuinely empty cells, containing no formulas or errors
=MAXA(E2:E3)
=MAXA(G2:G3)
=MAXA(I2:I3)
All three have expected 0. Only the first contains a measured numeric zero. The second uses the text conversion rule; the third uses the documented no-value fallback.
An aggregate is therefore insufficient as a completion or validity test. Keep a separate count of numeric observations and preserve the unmodified source labels. COUNT reports 2, 1 and 0 for these explicit ranges, helping expose the different situations without claiming a complete arbitrary-type validation system.
Advanced check: preserve the direction of a signed question
For the original negative range, the greatest observed numeric adjustment is -4. Its magnitude is 4, obtained independently from the numeric maximum and ABS. Taking =ABS(MAXA(A2:A5)) instead gives expected 0 because the text has already changed the selected maximum.
Also distinguish greatest signed value from greatest magnitude. For the numeric values -12, -4 and -9, the greatest signed value is -4, while the greatest absolute magnitude is 12. MAXA does not transform the question into a largest-magnitude calculation.
Combining groups and preserving provenance
If one group’s numeric values are -12 and -4, and another group’s are -9 and -6, their combined numeric maximum is -4. Adding a text label to either supplied range changes the text-sensitive combined MAXA to zero. Make the text-inclusion policy consistent before comparing group summaries.
A maximum does not identify which record produced it. A text-derived zero may not correspond to any numeric source row at all, so attaching a measurement label to the result requires an explicit provenance rule.
Boundaries and troubleshooting
The no-value statement explicitly excludes encountered errors. It is not a promise to suppress errors. Boolean values, numeric-looking text, formula-generated empty strings and platform-specific coercion combinations are outside the checked examples because the dedicated definition does not fully specify that matrix.
When a result changes after importing data, inspect both sign and stored type. Formatting a negative number as text and retaining it as a number are not equivalent transformations under MAXA’s text rule.
References and verification
The function-specific Collabora documentation was reviewed. Worked results are independent arithmetic or documented type-rule controls, not captured output from the application. Client-specific entry procedures and the boundaries identified above remain subject to native verification.