setting cell value to nullwithif statement

[wmtsub]

often I will clear a cells value with an if statement
=if(condition) then, "Action","").
My issue is with the "".
Instead of setting the cell to "" how to I just make it a blank cell?

 

[steve the fish]

You need to elaborate. "" will appear blank.

 

[wmtsub]

Yes it is blank, but I do not want it to be blank. I want it to be the same as an unused cell.

I thought unused cells were blank but there not.

 

[Fluff]

I thought unused cells were blank but there not.

Can you please explain what you mean by this?

 

[wmtsub]

if you set a cell to "" it is not the same as an unused cell. Certain functions see a 0 and some do not. i am looking to reset the cell to an unused state not a null state.

 

[Fluff]

Do you have formulae in those cells?

 

[wmtsub]

no

 

[Fluff]

Then I don't understand your problem. you originally said

often I will clear a cells value with an if statement
=if(condition) then, "Action","").

But now you are saying there are no formulae in those cells

 

[steve the fish]

So i think you clear the cells with a formula then delete the formulas? So something like counta(A1) would still produce 1? Use text to columns? This will make counta produce 0.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

often I will clear a cells value with an if statement
=if(condition) then, "Action","").
My issue is with the "".
Instead of setting the cell to "" how to I just make it a blank cell?

If you have a formula in a cell, then the cell cannot be blank (like when nothing is in a cell) because it has something in it... the formula. The only way is to run a macro that looks for cells displaying "" and have that macro physically clear the cell. Of course, that means the formula will no longer be there when you make changes that the now missing formula would have reacted to by displaying something other than "".