if the column in question is A, and if, say, column B will have data:

In cell A2:

=if(B2 = "","",0)

and paste down.

Unfortunately, don't have the answer to the second part.

"gevew" wrote:

I am currently working on a spreadsheet that contains min. information but
will expand over time. I have formatted a column for number and would like
the zero value to show only in fields where there is other information
showing (all the rest of the rows should show no zeros. I also found that
because I applied conditional formatting to one of the columns from row
2-2000, when I want to print the whole spreadsheet rows 1-2000 are selected
to print (pages 1-56) not just the page(s) with data on them. How do I get it
to auto select only the rows with data.