T in Collabora Office: Keep Text Values and Preserve Real Errors

• Introduced: the original Collabora release and launch date are not established by the reviewed sources.
• Availability: documented in Collabora Office 26.04 desktop help.
• Platform scope: online and mobile deployment support is not inferred from the desktop documentation.
• Checked: October 14, 2026. Function-specific documentation and independent controls; no native Collabora execution.

=T(Value)

Value may be a literal or a reference. The Collabora page explicitly distinguishes text, nontext and errors. T does not format a number into a visible numeric label; it discards that nontext value from its text result.

An empty-text output is a value. It is not a command that clears the formula cell. Likewise, a string that merely looks like an error is still text rather than a genuine error value.

Use ISTEXT when you need a Boolean type test. T is useful when the desired output is the original text itself, with a defined blank-text result for ordinary nontext inputs.

Set up these inputs in A2:A7. Enter the indicated formulas where shown, so the data types are unambiguous. In B2 use =T(A2) and fill down.

Numeric 125 and text “125” look similar but take different branches of the documented rule. T preserves the text version; it does not parse it into a number.

The last row is deliberately a quoted string. It remains text even though its characters resemble an error token. The next example supplies a real error separately.

In D2 enter =NA(). Then evaluate =T(D2) in E2. The expected result is the same actual #N/A error, following T’s explicit error-preservation rule and the NA source.

For comparison, =T("#N/A") returns the literal text #N/A. The display alone can be misleading. =ISERROR(E2) is expected TRUE, while =ISERROR(T("#N/A")) is FALSE for the text control.

ISERROR checks error status. T is not a general error handler and should not be used where the policy requires replacing errors with a fallback.

Enter Ready, numeric 125 and formula ="125" in G2:G4. In H2 enter:

="Comment: "&T(G2)

Fill down. Expected strings are Comment: Ready, **Comment: ** with a trailing ordinary space, and Comment: 125.

The numeric row contributes no text after the prefix. If a numeric comment is meaningful in your report, this formula is the wrong conversion policy. Use an explicit numeric formatter such as FIXED rather than assuming T means “convert anything to text.”

A real error in G would still propagate through T. That visibility may be useful in an audit, but it should be chosen deliberately rather than mistaken for blank filtering.

Text 125, pending and -3.5 are all retained unchanged. Their retention does not prove that any is an acceptable numeric amount. Conversely, numeric 125 produces empty text even if it is a perfectly valid amount.

For a numeric-only check use ISNUMBER, with a separate range or business-rule comparison. Type filtering and domain validation are different questions.

The text-preserving identity also makes repeated application stable for ordinary text: =T(T("Ready")) remains Ready, and =T(T(125)) remains empty text. That control does not erase an error; a preserved error remains an error on another application.

The examples use scalar cell values and explicit text, numeric, Boolean or error inputs. Array behavior, external references and undocumented coercion corner cases are outside this source’s detailed scope. Outputs are documented type rules and independently modeled controls, not native Collabora captures.

• Collabora Office 26.04: T.
• Editorial testing standards.

Complete dedicated product documentation reviewed. Outputs are independent decimal, positional, character or type models, or explicit vendor controls; no native Collabora execution. Formulas use English names and semicolon separators. Optional-argument brackets describe syntax and are not typed into working formulas.