ISBLANK Generator
Test a cell with ISBLANK, ISNUMBER, ISTEXT, or ISERROR and return your own result with IF.
ISBLANK
Test a cell with ISBLANK, ISNUMBER, ISTEXT, or ISERROR and return your own result with IF.
A single cell. ISBLANK expects one cell, not a range.
Returned when the cell is truly empty. Text needs quotes.
Returned when the cell has content - a cell reference, a number, or quoted text.
=IF(ISBLANK(A2), "Missing", A2)Worked Example
Column B holds invoice dates, and B2 was left empty because no date was entered on that row.
=IF(ISBLANK(B2), "Missing", B2)Returns: Missing - and on rows where B does hold a date, the formula returns that date instead. Format the result cell as a date if it comes back as a serial number like 46023.
Checks Before You Paste
- •ISBLANK is strict: a cell holding a formula that returns "" is not blank, so ISBLANK gives FALSE and you land in the wrong branch. When the cell may hold such a formula, test with =IF(A2="","Missing",A2) or =IF(LEN(A2)=0,"Missing",A2) instead.
- •Swap the test without changing the shape of the formula: ISNUMBER(A2), ISTEXT(A2), ISERROR(A2), ISNA(A2), or ISNUMBER(SEARCH("abc",A2)) for a case-insensitive contains check.
- •For plain error handling, =IFERROR(A2/B2,0) beats =IF(ISERROR(A2/B2),0,A2/B2): it is shorter and evaluates the expression once instead of twice. Keep ISERROR for cases where the error test is only one part of a larger condition.