Can I keep and hide a formula if there is no value in cell?

[Guest]

I have a form that has formulas in it- my question is: Can I hide and keep
the formulas in the cells without there actually being a value in it? thanks
so much

 

[Dave Peterson]

If your cell has a formula in it, then it has a value in it.

But you could use a value that makes it look empty--just have it return an empty
string:

=if(a1=3,a2+a7,"")

 

[Guest]

When I do this... will the formula be locked? The reason I ask is because I
protected the worksheet, but if I click on the cell with the total
outcome...the formula erases and I have to type it in again....why is this
happening? This is going to be a shared worksheet, but of course I don't
want the formulas to have to be reset everytime....can someone help? Thanks

 

[Dave Peterson]

The cell won't be safe unless you lock the cell and protect the workbook.

Select the cell
format|cells|protection tab
check Locked

But this doesn't have any affect until the worksheet is protected:
tools|protection|protect sheet

I've never seen xl just empty a cell by clicking on it. Any chance the
developer (you??) has a macro that cleans things up (even when they don't need
to be?).