Smileys and icons can bring life to your spreadsheets if you use them cleverly. You can easily insert smileys and icons based on values in Google Sheets.

Tip: In this guide, “smileys” refer to emoji faces like 😀, 😢, and 😎. Google Sheets lets you use all kinds of emojis — not just faces, but also icons like 🚀, 📈, and 🎯!

For example, you can fill a “Status” column with emojis based on the sales amount of employees:

• If they underperform, show a disappointed face.
• If they meet the target, show a grinning face.
• If they exceed expectations, show a red heart.

You can also use the same method to display other emojis based on values, such as food and drink icons for different menu items or categories.

In this tutorial, I’ll first show you how to insert smileys and icons based on sales values. After that, you’ll naturally be able to apply it to other examples too.

Step 1: Prepare the Example Sheet to Insert Smileys and Icons

In an empty sheet, let’s prepare the sample data for testing. I have very basic data in Sheet1:

Goal: Display emojis based on sales volume:

• Less than 5000 — 😞 Disappointed face
• Between 5000 and 7499 — 😀 Grinning face
• 7500 and above — ❤️ Red heart

Step 2: Insert Smileys and Icons

You can insert smileys by clicking Insert > Emoji or typing “@” in a cell and selecting Emoji from the shortcut menu.

In Sheet2, column A, insert the smileys and icons you want to use. Here’s how:

• Click Insert > Emoji to open the emoji picker.
• You can browse through different categories like “Smileys & Emotion,” “Animals & Nature,” “Food & Drink,” etc.
• Or, use the search box. For example:
  • Search “frowning” to find a sad face.
  • Search “rocket” to find a 🚀 rocket icon.

For our example, insert the following in Sheet2:

We are inserting:

• 😞 Disappointed face for underperformance
• 😀 Grinning face for average performance
• ❤️ Red heart for exceeding expectations

Step 3: Assign Conditions to Smileys and Icons Based on Values

Now it’s time to assign sales thresholds to each emoji.

As explained:

• Sales less than 5000 — 😞
• Sales between 5000 and 7499 — 😀
• Sales 7500 or more — ❤️

Enter:

• 0 in B2,
• 5000 in B3,
• 7500 in B4.

This simple two-column setup is key to inserting smileys and icons based on values in Google Sheets.

Step 4: Insert Smileys and Icons Based on Values Using XLOOKUP

Now let’s dynamically display the emojis based on sales volume!

In Sheet1, cell C2, enter this formula:

=IF(B2="",,XLOOKUP(B2, Sheet2!B:B, Sheet2!A:A, ,-1))

Then drag it down.

✅ This formula looks up the sales volume from column B, matches it with the correct threshold in Sheet2, and returns the corresponding emoji.

• It finds the largest value less than or equal to the sales amount.
• If there’s no exact match, it finds the next closest smaller number.

Tip: Instead of dragging, you can enter this array formula in C2:

=ArrayFormula(IF(B2:B="",,XLOOKUP(B2:B, Sheet2!B:B, Sheet2!A:A, ,-1)))

This automatically fills emojis for all the rows without dragging!

Sample Sheet

Additional Tip: Inserting Food and Drink Icons Based on Item Names

If you want to show food and drink emojis based on item names, here’s how:

In Sheet2, insert food and drink emojis in column A and corresponding item names in column B.

For example:

Then use this lookup formula in Sheet1:

Single Cell:

=XLOOKUP(B2, Sheet2!B:B, Sheet2!A:A, ,0)

Array Formula:

=ArrayFormula(XLOOKUP(B2:B, Sheet2!B:B, Sheet2!A:A, ,0))

This matches the item name exactly and returns the corresponding food or drink emoji.

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