If there is no character in A2, you won't get a #VALUE! error from
=SUM(A1:A5). Similarly you won't get that error from the SUM function when
A2 contains a space =" ", or even normally troublesome invisible characters
such as CHAR(160), but in those cases you will get a #VALUE! error from
=A1+A2+A3+A4+A5.
I suggest you use =LEN(A2) to see how long a string you've got in A2, and
then you can use =CODE(MID(A2,1,1)) to =CODE(MID(A2,n,1)) to see the ANSI
code for each of your n characters.
--
David Biddulph

"phowe43" wrote in message
...
e.g., if A7 is the sum of A1:A5 but there is no character in cell A2, how
can
I avoid the #Value! error without having to manually type in a "0" value.
In
other words, the calculation does not recognize the blank cell as an
automatic "0" value.

I appreciate your help.