Seemingly simple Excel problem

[jaydee]

I'm using IF statements to repeat cells (data in numeric form) from one worksheet to another if a simple condition is met and if the condition is not met, put a blank in the cell (" ").

Here's a sample code for cell A5: =IF('sheet1'!A5 < 9000, 'sheet2'!A5, " ")


The problem is, that Excel interprets blank cells the exact same way as cells with a '0'. So, when I run across an empty cell, Excel interprets the empty cell as 0, determines the condition to be true, but instead of having an empty cell show up, it shows up as a '0'.

This is a problem, because I have cells in sheet1 that actually are 0 and there is no way to differentiate on sheet2 which originally were empty and which originally were 0. It is of the utmost importance that 0's in sheet1 show up as 0's in sheet2, and that empty cells show up as empty cell.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[AlsoNadrag]

Well I just checked on my copy of excel 2000 and it does not equate empty cells and cells with '0's in them.

I did just notice that you are putting in a " " (a space) which is not the same as a blank cell in your post above. That might be a problem.

 

[jaydee]

Originally posted by: AlsoNadrag
Well I just checked on my copy of excel 2000 and it does not equate empty cells and cells with '0's in them.

I did just notice that you are putting in a " " (a space) which is not the same as a blank cell in your post above. That might be a problem.

When you do that check, try typing a '0' in A1 and leave B1 blank. Then in A2, type '=A1' and in B2 type '=B1'. In my version, both A2 and B2 will report '0' and in essence, I want B2 to report a blank cell.

The false condition has nothing to do with my problem, so the " " is unrelated (and won't affect my spreadsheet).

 

[OZEE]

How 'bout the isblank function?