Null vs. Blank

[upcea]

I am trying to select all blank cells. im not sure how or why (must be a result of lots of copy/paste) many of my blank cells are not highlighted when I do the function:
find>go to special>Blanks>OK

not sure how to fix this problem....the spreadsheet is huge and i need to select and delete all cells that do not have visible data. cant seem to figure it out.

can anyone help?!

thanks!

 

[xenou]

Hi,

• If cells are really blank, there's nothing in them to delete so no worries there.
• If you can filter the data, then filter on blanks, you'll get true blanks and cells with empty strings in them. But this works on only one column at a time - you still might be able to delete a column of blanks that way.

BTW, how many rows and columns is "huge"? Everyone's definition of a huge spreadsheet is different.

Make a backup first before trying new things.

 

[AlphaFrog]

If you have formulas that return null strings "", then those are not considered blank.
If you have cells with just a space in them, they may "look" blank but are not.

One way around the formulas that return null strings is to use the Find feature...

• Select the range of cells you want to check
• Select from the menu; Edit\ Find (Ctrl+F)
  • Find what: < leave blank >
  • Find All
  • Select the top cell in the find all list
  • Shift+Click on the last cell in the find all list

All the blank cells (including the ones with null string formulas) should be selected.

 

[xenou]

Shift+Click on the last cell in the find all list

Well I'll be horn swaggled ... didn't know about that one. Nifty.

 

[upcea]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

what ended up working was:
(Ctrl+F)
Find what: < leave blank >
Find All
RIght Click
Delete
Shift Left

Seriously, I owe you both a million thanks.

This forum has saved me a lot of work/time.

Have a great day!