Your parentheses are wrong in several places. Proper indentation can make these errors more clear: IF( CONTAINS( "Re-Admit...", TEXT(LastName) ), // <-- missing closing parenthesis added "1", IF( CONTAINS( "Re-Admit 2...", TEXT(LastName) ), // <-- missing closing parenthesis added "2", // <-- extra closing parenthesis removed IF( CONTAINS( "Re-Admit 3...", TEXT(LastName) ), // <-- missing closing parenthesis added "3", // <-- extra closing parenthesis removed "" ) // <-- close third IF formula ) // <-- close second IF formula (added) ) // <-- close first IF formula (added) I believe the first `CONTAINS` check will actually catch all the values from the subsequent checks, so you should also reverse the order, checking the `"1"` case last.