How to show empty cell in excel formula

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During the many calculations phase, we encounter Blank cells, which leads to an output of zero. But in many cases, the Blank cell compared to the zero value as output is preferred. As it can provide more clarity in the understanding of the calculations. If you are curious to know how you can Leave a cell Blank if there is no data in it, then this article may come in handy for you. In this article, we discuss how you can Leave a cell Blank if there is no data in Excel with an elaborate explanation. We are going to use the below dataset, for demonstration purposes. So that leads to some entries in the column Cost to be Zero.

How to show empty cell in excel formula

To take an action if a cell is blank empty , you can use the IF function. The formula in cell E5 is:. In the example worksheet, column D contains a date when a task is completed. If the task is not yet complete, the cell in column D will be empty blank. In column E, the goal is to display the word "Open" when there is no date in column D. If there is a date in column D, the formula in column E should display nothing. The most common way to solve a problem like this is with the IF function. The IF function can return a hard-coded value, a cell reference, or another formula. The generic syntax for IF looks like this:. As the formula is copied down, it will return "Open" when the date in column D is blank because the logical test will return TRUE. In Excel, an empty string will not display anything. The values returned by the IF function can be customized as needed. The result is the same as the original formula above. There is no practical difference between the formulas, the choice depends on personal preference. There are times when you may need to use the LEN function to check for a blank cell instead of the methods above, because when a formula in a cell returns an empty string , Excel will not consider the cell blank even though it looks blank.

CaptainKen Nov 5, Excel Questions 2. Excel functions by category. I would be eternally grateful for any help you could provide!

The tutorial shows how to use ISBLANK and other functions to identify blank cells in Excel and take different actions depending on whether a cell is empty or not. There are many situations when you need to check if a cell is empty or not. For instance, if cell is blank, then you might want to sum, count, copy a value from another cell, or do nothing. Copy the formulas down to a few more cells and you will get this result:. This behavior occurs if a cell contains any of the following:. To see it in action, let's check if a cell in column B delivery date has any value in it. If the cell is blank, then output "Open"; if the cell is not blank, then output "Completed".

To return a blank result i. In the example shown, the formula in E5 is:. As the formula is copied down, the IF function returns the value in column C when the value in column B is "A". Otherwise, IF returns an empty string "" which looks like an empty cell in Excel. The goal is to display a blank cell based on a specific condition. In the worksheet shown, we want to return the value from column C, but only when the value in column B is "A". If the value in column B is anything else, we want to display nothing. The easiest way to solve this problem is with the IF function and an empty string "". For example, if cell A1 contains "Red", then:. It is important to understand that the IF function is not case-sensitive.

How to show empty cell in excel formula

The tutorial shows how to use ISBLANK and other functions to identify blank cells in Excel and take different actions depending on whether a cell is empty or not. There are many situations when you need to check if a cell is empty or not. For instance, if cell is blank, then you might want to sum, count, copy a value from another cell, or do nothing. Copy the formulas down to a few more cells and you will get this result:. This behavior occurs if a cell contains any of the following:.

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I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week! Submit feedback. I am stuck on this one and cant think of any way to do this with a formula. Add a comment. Post subject: Re: How to represent an empty cell I have found another option if I only want to chart values i. This time, we count cells that are not empty. I am assuming that the result of the formula with a "" content of the field is not considered as "blank" so that the chart assumes it to be zero. The problem with this is that Excel doesn't always treat a "" result the same as a true blank cell, such as for conditional formatting or in the way that other formulas react to a "" cell value. In this article, we discuss how you can Leave a cell Blank if there is no data in Excel with an elaborate explanation. To illustrate this, please have a look at the screenshot below. The IF function Of all the many functions in Excel, the IF function is often the first function that new users turn to. Privacy Statement. But in many cases, the Blank cell compared to the zero value as output is preferred.

Combine it with other functions to perform actions depending on the result.

If for some reason removing excess spaces does not work for you, you can force Excel to ignore them. The future dates of Column E correctly display blank. Achieves the goal well but I hate the fact that NA is displayed in the cell - any workaround for this? Too technical. Need more help? How to avoid broken formulas. Sort by date Sort by votes. Post a comment Click here to cancel reply. I want the empty cells with formula to return blank in Column 2. I am not sure I fully understand what you mean. The LEN function will return a non-zero number only when a cell contains actual characters. In Sr.