The thing I don't understand (at risk of boring everyone with this) is why
when I delete A1, countblank remains 0 but when I press delete a second time
(i.e. press delete in the empty cell) then the formula suddenly kicks in and
the function counts my cell (with a formula in it ) as a blank. I can then
put a value back in A1 and the count goes back to zero. Press delete again
this time it works properly and I get a 1. I can then toggle between a value
and a blank cell and the formula works every time. I know there's a way
around this but I just wonder if this is a known fault.

Ian

"Bob Phillips" wrote:

Aaah, now we understand. Countblank won't work because the cells are not
blank, they have a formula. The cells that they refer to may be blank, but
they are not.

Try

=COUNTIF(A18:A23,"")

instead


--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove xxx from email address if mailing direct)

"Ian P" wrote in message
...
I've tried it in other worksheets (making sure that I use the delete key)
and
I get the same result every time. If I put values in cells A1:A6 and then
use the formula =a1 in cell a18 and =a2 in cell a19 etc and then use the
=countblank(a18:a23) I get the result 0. If I then delete A1 I still get
zero. Press delete again and I get the result 1. Could someone else with
Excel 2000 confirm if this does the same for them?

Thanks

Ian

"Bob Phillips" wrote:

Are you sure that you are not clearing A21 with the delete key but
hitting
the spacebar? Space looks blank, but is not.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove xxx from email address if mailing direct)

"Ian P" wrote in message
...
Has anybody encountered a problem with the countblank function? I am
using a
formula =if(a21="","",a21); =if(a22="","",a22) etc. I then use the
countblank function to count the number of blanks in this array. If I
delete
a21 then the formula delivers the blank cell but the countblank
doesn't
increase. Weirdly, if I press delete a second time then the
countblank
updates. I've checked the calculation options and everything seems to
be
set
right so why would this happen?

Thanks

Ian

PS I know that it's easy to get round this by using other counts but I
wondered why the countblank function doesn't work properly.