What it does – It checks that if a given cell is blank or not and returns a true or false value accordingly
Syntax:=ISBLANK(Cell_address)Cell_address – It takes in the reference of the cell for which we have to check if it’s blank or not
Sample usage:=ISBLANK(A4)
//This will return True if A4 is blank else it will return False
Sample Google Sheets template with formula here.
“Trust only what your eyes can see.” This quote may not be applicable when you are working with Google Sheets. Cells that begin with an apostrophe or contain a pace or have the text camouflaged in the cell might look empty but they aren’t so in reality. In such cases, we can use the ISBLANK function in Google Sheets to confirm the emptiness of the cell.
The use of the ISBLANK function in Google Sheets is most prominent when auditing financial statements. To ensure that the figures add up, accountants may sometimes include fake numbers in their calculations. The auditors can then use the ISBLANK function in Google Sheets to check whether the cells that look empty are actually empty or not and ensure the credibility of those numbers.
- Case 1: The cell and the text are of the same colour
- Case 2: The cell contains a space
- Case 3: The cell contains an apostrophe
Case 1: When the colour of the text and cell is the same
Let’s assume you are an auditor and you have the following balance sheet to check and determine its authenticity.
To check for the presence of hidden figures in the statement, the auditor performs the following steps:
Step 1: You click on cell G8 and enter the following function:
=ISBLANK(H8)The function returns true if the cell corresponding to the amount column on the liability side is empty otherwise returns false.
The output “TRUE” implies that there are no hidden figures in cell H8.
Step 2: You do the same for all other empty cells either by copying and pasting the formulas in different cells or manually typing them to find the following result:
The cell G8 returns “FALSE”. Thus, indicating that the cell referred to in the function is not blank and contains some value. On changing the fill colour of the cell, we discover the hidden figure as shown below:
Thus, it is conventional for an auditor to use the ISBLANK function whenever they get doubt the credibility of the statements.
Case 2: When the cell contains a space
A space is recognized as an input in Google Sheets. Thus when we use the ISBLANK function in Google Sheets and refer to a cell containing space (“ “) the function returns “FALSE” as shown below:
Let’s assume you have the following dataset, and the data in the returns column can either contain blank spaces, % return or be empty. Your task is to produce relevant messages as output with regard to the data in the returns column.
Following are the steps you can follow to complete your task:
Step 1: In cell C10, enter the following formula:
=If(Isblank(B10),"The cell is blank",If(B10=" ","The cell contains a space","The cell is not empty"))The main IF checks whether the cell is blank or not; if the cell is not blank, the second IF checks whether it contains a space or not and produces relevant messages.
Step 2: Drag or copy and paste the formula to the cells below to include the whole data range to produce the following output:
To know more about the use of the IF function click here.
Case 3: When the cell contains a single apostrophe
A single apostrophe is used when you want the data to be treated as a string input in the text even though it begins with an ‘=’ sign or is a number. While the apostrophe itself is not visible, it tells the software that whatever follows the inverted comma must be treated as a text input regardless of anything.
Hence, when the cell contains only the apostrophe sign it seems like an empty cell but returns FALSE when used with the ISBLANK function.
Conclusion
The ISBLANK function conforms with the proverb, “Appearances can be deceptive.” A cell that may look empty might actually contain data in it which may not be visible to the eye without making any changes to the data.
To know about more such clever and important functions, check out our blog.
See Also
Here are a few other articles that you might find relevant to the completion of your task:
Array formula in Google Sheets