ok, got the formula below to work, is that right, or is there a way to
shorten it?

=IF(VLOOKUP($A3,'census file'!$B$2:$F$572,5,FALSE)="0001-01-01","
",VLOOKUP($A3,'census file'!$B$2:$F$572,5,FALSE))

"Tasha" wrote:

I have imported a file that is system generated from our IBM server, so can't
change it on that side. The records that don't have a date come across as
0001-01-01. I need to know if there is a way to format these cells to
display as blanks if it contains this. Hope someone can help....have
searched and searched and haven't been successful in finding anything?