That would work... EXCEPT that the secondary Gross cells by default have the
formula to subtract contents of Shrink from Gross to arrive at an Estimated
Secondary gross. So until a secondary gross, or both a Gross AND tare weight
are entered, Secondary Gross is Null. Forgot to include. If No secondary
Gross is entered, the Estimated Shrink is calculated from the NET Weight (
Gross - Tare).

So right now, I have 2 spreadsheet setup files... One for when the scale at
the plant is working, and a second that figures strictly an estimated shrink
as long as the trucks need to be weighed elsewhere.

a b C D E
Gross Secondary Tare Net Shrink

Default cell contents

A Blank
B Formula to give estimated secondary gross =A2-E2
C Blank
D Formula (assuming in row 2) =A2 -C2
E. on sheet for estimated shrink =D2 * .005

Ideally, the formula for shrink should determine if secondary Gross still
has the default formula or user entered number since THAT would determine how
to calculate Shrink

If Secondary Gross is user-entered, Shrink should be Gross - Secondary Gross
(=A2-B2)
If Secondary Gross still contains default formula, Shrink should use
Estimate (=D2*.005)

If nothing else, if you know how to do this with a user defined VBA function
that could be used in the spreadsheet, tell me.

I already programmed the spreadsheet setup in VBA so to set up the sheet,
the user only has to know the lot number, farm name, how many loads, and the
catch count, and the VBA coding will set up the spreadsheet with properly
placed total lines, grand totals, and correctly format the shift related
summary page of the spreadsheet. So I'm by no means afraid to do this with
an added in VBA coded spreadsheet function to test whether B2 contains a
Formula.

"Bill Kuunders" wrote:

A2 is gross
B2 is sec gross
C2 is shrinkage

enter in C2

=IF(B20,A2-B2,A2*0.005)

Greetings from New Zealand
Bill K

"rcmodelr" wrote in message
...
I have a spreadsheet to maintain truck weights.

If the weighmaster enters a Gross, and a Secondary Gross, the spreadsheet
should calculate the amount of shrink (Gross - Secondary Gross).

If the weighmaster enters ONLY a Gross and a Tare weight, the spreadsheet
should give an ESTIMATED shrink calculation, then show the result of
Gross -
Estimated Shrink in the Secondary Gross column.

How can I do this??? Only way I could think of is with some way to
determine whether Secondary Gross column cell contains a USER ENTERED
NUMBER,
or still has the formula to arrive at the ESTIMATED secondary weight. If
Secondary Gross has a formula, then Shrink should be Gross * .005, and
Secondary Gross should show result of Gross - Shrink.

If BOTH Gross AND Secondary Gross cells contain user entered numbers,
Shrink
should contain result of Gross - Secondary Gross.

Btw... My employer has Excel 2000. So please, if you have a solution, try
to make it one I can implement in Excel 2000.