Question about replacing "railroad" or multiple ######'s with a blank cell

[robpertraymond]

I'm having trouble with a formula for a sign-in/out spreadsheet that tracks hours:

For each individual person I have 2 sign-in and 2 sign-out times (in case they sign in and out multiple times in a day). I have this formula: (sign out 1 - sign in 1) + (sign out 2 - sign in 2) for the total hours cell OR =(D3-C3)+(F3-E3).

The problem is that when someone signs in, before they sign back out, I get a ###### error message in the 'total' hours cell because it is referring empty cells. It is only resolved when I add a sign-out time. I tried to add this formula in the 'total' cell: =IFERROR((D3-C3)+(F3-E3), "") but I get an error message that reads "Inconsistent formula". My goal is to make it so that when someone signs in, instead of seeing the ###### error message in the 'total' cell until they sign back out, the 'total' cell has a blank string (" ") or even changes to a different color until a sign-out time is entered.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Maybe this...

=IF(OR(C3="",E3=""),"",(D3-C3)+(F3-E3))

 

[robpertraymond]

Hmmm that seems to work to insert an empty string in place of the ######'s, but it stays empty when when I add a sign-out time.

What is that function doing exactly?

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Hmmm that seems to work to insert an empty string in place of the ######'s, but it stays empty when when I add a sign-out time.

What is that function doing exactly?

It looks to see if either C3 or E3 is blank... if either one is, it outputs the empty string (""). So, the only way a value is output is if, at minimum, both C3 and E3 have values in them. You will note that I originally introduced the formula by saying "Maybe this"... I really am not sure under what circumstance you want values displayed and under what circumstances you want "" displayed