format changes when copying from one cell to another

I'm sure this is simple, but it is not clear to me...

I am copying the contents of a group of cells that exist on one worksheet to
another. In Sheet2, I tell cell A1 that it should equal Sheet1's A1 value.
That works fine. But if the cell is blank on Sheet1, it comes up as "0" on
Sheet2. I figured it was probably assuming numeric formatting, but when I
right-click > format cell on both Sheet1 and Sheet2, both show up as
"general", so why would Sheet2 take a blank value and populate it with "0"
??

I gather than you are putting a formula in one sheet to pick up the value in
some cell of the other sheet. Something like "=Sheet1!A1" (without the
quotes). You will always get a zero if the Sheet1 A1 cell is blank.
You need to change your formula to something like this:
=IF(Sheet1!A1="","",Sheet1!A1)

This will give you a blank cell in the second cell if the first cell is
blank. HTH Otto

"AFN" <newsDELETETHECAPSgroupaccount@DELETETHISyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:IPYLd.5448$e11.1915@twister.socal.rr.com...
> I'm sure this is simple, but it is not clear to me...
>
> I am copying the contents of a group of cells that exist on one worksheet
> to
> another. In Sheet2, I tell cell A1 that it should equal Sheet1's A1
> value.
> That works fine. But if the cell is blank on Sheet1, it comes up as "0"
> on
> Sheet2. I figured it was probably assuming numeric formatting, but when
> I
> right-click > format cell on both Sheet1 and Sheet2, both show up as
> "general", so why would Sheet2 take a blank value and populate it with "0"
> ??
>
>

That's really screwy, but I sure appreciate you telling me that it defaults
to 0 in these situations and suggesting using the IF.


"Otto Moehrbach" <ottokmnop@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:%23Q5fk6SCFHA.2380@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> I gather than you are putting a formula in one sheet to pick up the value
in
> some cell of the other sheet. Something like "=Sheet1!A1" (without the
> quotes). You will always get a zero if the Sheet1 A1 cell is blank.
> You need to change your formula to something like this:
> =IF(Sheet1!A1="","",Sheet1!A1)
>
> This will give you a blank cell in the second cell if the first cell is
> blank. HTH Otto
>
> "AFN" <newsDELETETHECAPSgroupaccount@DELETETHISyahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:IPYLd.5448$e11.1915@twister.socal.rr.com...
> > I'm sure this is simple, but it is not clear to me...
> >
> > I am copying the contents of a group of cells that exist on one
worksheet
> > to
> > another. In Sheet2, I tell cell A1 that it should equal Sheet1's A1
> > value.
> > That works fine. But if the cell is blank on Sheet1, it comes up as
"0"
> > on
> > Sheet2. I figured it was probably assuming numeric formatting, but
when
> > I
> > right-click > format cell on both Sheet1 and Sheet2, both show up as
> > "general", so why would Sheet2 take a blank value and populate it with
"0"
> > ??
> >
> >
>
>

I am having the same troubles with getting the zero if the field is blank but when I try to use the IF= I just get the whole formula string in the box. What am I doing wrong.

I am using "=IF(Worksheet!B16="","",Worksheet!B16)" I want the field to be blank if my intial B16 is blank.

Dennis