I am looking for a way to apply conditional formatting to cells that are
blank in a spreadsheet, but I don't know how to represent a blank cell - I
have tried " " and "" with no luck. I am applying two conditions to an
entire column - one that says if the value is not equal to "Yes" (there can
be any number of alternate values in the cell) - then fill with red, I want
the second condition to be that if the cell is blank then no fill. The end
result I am looking for is that values of Yes and blank cells will not have
the conditional formatting applied - all others will be colored red. Maybe
I'm going about it backward.

Can this be done?

Thanks for any insights,
Gail

In the condition try

=ISBLANK(A1)
--
HTH,
Barb Reinhardt



"Gail" wrote:

I am looking for a way to apply conditional formatting to cells that are
blank in a spreadsheet, but I don't know how to represent a blank cell - I
have tried " " and "" with no luck. I am applying two conditions to an
entire column - one that says if the value is not equal to "Yes" (there can
be any number of alternate values in the cell) - then fill with red, I want
the second condition to be that if the cell is blank then no fill. The end
result I am looking for is that values of Yes and blank cells will not have
the conditional formatting applied - all others will be colored red. Maybe
I'm going about it backward.

Can this be done?

Thanks for any insights,
Gail

You can combine both these requirements into one conditional format.
Highlight all the cells you want this to apply to, and click on Format
| Conditional Formatting. In the CF dialogue box choose Formula Is
rather than Cell Value Is, and then enter this formula:

=AND(A1<"Yes",A1<"")

then click the Format button and choose your background colour of Red,
then OK your way out.

This assumes that the first cell highlighted is A1 - just change this
to suit your set up, and the formula will automatically adjust to suit
the other cells.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Aug 5, 11:17*pm, Gail wrote:
I am looking for a way to apply conditional formatting to cells that are
blank in a spreadsheet, but I don't know how to represent a blank cell - I
have tried " " and "" with no luck. * I am applying two conditions to an
entire column - one that says if the value is not equal to "Yes" (there can
be any number of alternate values in the cell) - then fill with red, I want
the second condition to be that if the cell is blank then no fill. *The end
result I am looking for is that values of Yes and blank cells will not have
the conditional formatting applied - all others will be colored red. * Maybe
I'm going about it backward.

Can this be done?

Thanks for any insights,
Gail

Worked Perfectly - thank you so very much!

Do you know if there is somewhere on the Microsoft site that I can learn
more about formulas and how they work? I am finding myself in these
situations more and more often, and I just don't know much more than the very
basics about formulas.



"Pete_UK" wrote:

You can combine both these requirements into one conditional format.
Highlight all the cells you want this to apply to, and click on Format
| Conditional Formatting. In the CF dialogue box choose Formula Is
rather than Cell Value Is, and then enter this formula:

=AND(A1<"Yes",A1<"")

then click the Format button and choose your background colour of Red,
then OK your way out.

This assumes that the first cell highlighted is A1 - just change this
to suit your set up, and the formula will automatically adjust to suit
the other cells.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Aug 5, 11:17 pm, Gail wrote:
I am looking for a way to apply conditional formatting to cells that are
blank in a spreadsheet, but I don't know how to represent a blank cell - I
have tried " " and "" with no luck. I am applying two conditions to an
entire column - one that says if the value is not equal to "Yes" (there can
be any number of alternate values in the cell) - then fill with red, I want
the second condition to be that if the cell is blank then no fill. The end
result I am looking for is that values of Yes and blank cells will not have
the conditional formatting applied - all others will be colored red. Maybe
I'm going about it backward.

Can this be done?

Thanks for any insights,
Gail

If you're starting out with the default fill (which is "no fill", cells have
a white background) then you don't need to format for that.

So, what you need to do is check that the cell has *some* entry and that
entry is not "Yes".

Let's assume the range of interest is A1:A10
Select the range A1:A10
Goto the menu FormatConditional Formatting
Select the Formula Is option
Enter this formula in the little box on the right:

=AND(A1<"",A1<"yes")

Click the format button
Select the desired style(s)
OK out

Cells that contain formulas that return formula blanks will not be
formatted.

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Gail" wrote in message
...
I am looking for a way to apply conditional formatting to cells that are
blank in a spreadsheet, but I don't know how to represent a blank cell - I
have tried " " and "" with no luck. I am applying two conditions to an
entire column - one that says if the value is not equal to "Yes" (there
can
be any number of alternate values in the cell) - then fill with red, I
want
the second condition to be that if the cell is blank then no fill. The
end
result I am looking for is that values of Yes and blank cells will not
have
the conditional formatting applied - all others will be colored red.
Maybe
I'm going about it backward.

Can this be done?

Thanks for any insights,
Gail

Thank you!

"Barb Reinhardt" wrote:

In the condition try

=ISBLANK(A1)
--
HTH,
Barb Reinhardt



"Gail" wrote:

I am looking for a way to apply conditional formatting to cells that are
blank in a spreadsheet, but I don't know how to represent a blank cell - I
have tried " " and "" with no luck. I am applying two conditions to an
entire column - one that says if the value is not equal to "Yes" (there can
be any number of alternate values in the cell) - then fill with red, I want
the second condition to be that if the cell is blank then no fill. The end
result I am looking for is that values of Yes and blank cells will not have
the conditional formatting applied - all others will be colored red. Maybe
I'm going about it backward.

Can this be done?

Thanks for any insights,
Gail

Glad to hear that, Gail - thanks for feeding back.

The newsgroups that you have posted into have a vast amount of free
advice on Conditional Formatting and many other aspects of using Excel
- just browse through these to increase your knowledge.

Pete

On Aug 5, 11:39*pm, Gail wrote:
Worked Perfectly - thank you so very much!

Do you know if there is somewhere on the Microsoft site that I can learn
more about formulas and how they work? * I am finding myself in these
situations more and more often, and I just don't know much more than the very
basics about formulas.



"Pete_UK" wrote:
You can combine both these requirements into one conditional format.
Highlight all the cells you want this to apply to, and click on Format
| Conditional Formatting. In the CF dialogue box choose Formula Is
rather than Cell Value Is, and then enter this formula:

=AND(A1<"Yes",A1<"")

then click the Format button and choose your background colour of Red,
then OK your way out.

This assumes that the first cell highlighted is A1 - just change this
to suit your set up, and the formula will automatically adjust to suit
the other cells.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Aug 5, 11:17 pm, Gail wrote:
I am looking for a way to apply conditional formatting to cells that are
blank in a spreadsheet, but I don't know how to represent a blank cell - I
have tried " " and "" with no luck. * I am applying two conditions to an
entire column - one that says if the value is not equal to "Yes" (there can
be any number of alternate values in the cell) - then fill with red, I want
the second condition to be that if the cell is blank then no fill. *The end
result I am looking for is that values of Yes and blank cells will not have
the conditional formatting applied - all others will be colored red. * Maybe
I'm going about it backward.

Can this be done?

Thanks for any insights,
Gail- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -