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  #1  
Old 07-04-2009, 02:33 PM
missdvm2b missdvm2b is offline
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How to get empty cells not to show up on graph (not even as 0 )

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HI everyone! I am a newbie Excel user, but I have a Q on behalf of my brother, who usually uses excel for finance charts and such...

He is wondering if it is possible to excel to see a cell and if it is blank not to display it in a graph... so far if he has the cell return nothing, then the graph shows a zero, but he would like it to just be blank. Also, he said he could get the formula in the cell to return a letter to be then recognized as nothing, thus not showing up on the graph... does this make sense?

Also, he is wondering if it is possible to set up a cell so that its formula displays a result in a different cell...

Thanks y'all! Sorry about my ignorance in this matter, but medicine is more my thing than excel :D
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Old 07-04-2009, 02:44 PM
Ancalagon12321 Ancalagon12321 is offline
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Re: How to get empty cells not to show up on graph (not even as 0 )

Well, hiding the row with the blank cell will cause it not to be displayed in the graph.


If you need a 'smarter' solution then use formulas to rearrange the data so as to 'skip over' the blanks, so that you end up with a column of values without blanks, and then have the graph be based on that:

Say your data (including some blank cells) is in column A, starting at A2
Let B1 be empty and in cell B2 have the following thing, and fill down:
=B1 + IF(LEN(A2)=0, 0, 1)

Then in column D, say, starting at D2, just have the numbers 1, 2, 3, ...
Then in column E have =INDEX($A:$A, match(D2, $B:$B, 0)), and fill down

And base your graph on column E.
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Old 07-04-2009, 03:03 PM
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Re: How to get empty cells not to show up on graph (not even as 0 )

Quote:
He is wondering if it is possible to excel to see a cell and if it is blank not to display it in a graph.
Cells that are #N/A are ignored in charts. So if there is a formula like this,

=IF(someCondition, someExpression, "")

... it can be changed to

=IF(someCondition, someExpression, NA())
Quote:
... he is wondering if it is possible to set up a cell so that its formula displays a result in a different cell...
No; a formula returns a result to the cell in which it appears. There are probably other ways to achieve what he wants, though.
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Old 07-05-2009, 05:23 AM
missdvm2b missdvm2b is offline
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Re: How to get empty cells not to show up on graph (not even as 0 )

Awesome! Thanks guys!
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