Working with dates

[matt330]

I've spent far too long on a seemingly simple problem, calculating date windows.

I have a cell that calculates a date based on another date. This is a template with no data entered yet. So for instance A1 is a column where a date will be entered, A2 adds 15 to that date and A3 adds 30 to that date providing a "window." Being that this is a template and no data has been entered, when the formulas are written in to A2 and A3 the value is 15-Jan-1900 and 30-Jan-1900.

Is there anyway to leave these fields Blank until a value is entered in A1?

[Anne Troy]

Sure, Matt. Suppose you have this in A2:
=A1+15
Change it to:
=IF(ISBLANK(A1),"",A1+15)
************
Anne Troy
www.OfficeArticles.com

"matt330" <matt330.1x2xqa_1129608305.6804@excelforum-nospam.com> wrote in
message news:matt330.1x2xqa_1129608305.6804@excelforum-nospam.com...
>
> I've spent far too long on a seemingly simple problem, calculating date
> windows.
>
> I have a cell that calculates a date based on another date. This is a
> template with no data entered yet. So for instance A1 is a column
> where a date will be entered, A2 adds 15 to that date and A3 adds 30 to
> that date providing a "window." Being that this is a template and no
> data has been entered, when the formulas are written in to A2 and A3
> the value is 15-Jan-1900 and 30-Jan-1900.
>
> Is there anyway to leave these fields Blank until a value is entered in
> A1?
>
>
> --
> matt330
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[Jezebel]

As an alternative to Anne's solution, you could use conditional formatting
to hide the results until they are valid:

Format the cell font to white (or whatever your background color). Then set
the condition "Formula is" =(A1>0) and the format is black (or whatever your
foreground color).

Keeps your formulas simpler.




"matt330" <matt330.1x2xqa_1129608305.6804@excelforum-nospam.com> wrote in
message news:matt330.1x2xqa_1129608305.6804@excelforum-nospam.com...
>
> I've spent far too long on a seemingly simple problem, calculating date
> windows.
>
> I have a cell that calculates a date based on another date. This is a
> template with no data entered yet. So for instance A1 is a column
> where a date will be entered, A2 adds 15 to that date and A3 adds 30 to
> that date providing a "window." Being that this is a template and no
> data has been entered, when the formulas are written in to A2 and A3
> the value is 15-Jan-1900 and 30-Jan-1900.
>
> Is there anyway to leave these fields Blank until a value is entered in
> A1?
>
>
> --
> matt330
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> matt330's Profile:
> http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=28176
> View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=477037
>

[matt330]

Thanks for both of your help. I went with the one that left the field blank, but I'm sure I'll be using the conditional formatting in the near future.

Thanks again!!