Can I make Excel 2003 treat blank cells as zero?

[Wortman]

I think there is a toggle to make 2003 calculate blank cells as zero, but
can't find it.

 

[Gary''s Student]

If you have a formula like:
=A1+A2
and either A1 or A2 is empty, the formula treats them like zero.

if, however, A1 contains something like:
=""
then =A1+A2 will display #VALUE!

This is because Excel now treats A1like a string. To fix this use:
=N(A1)+A2

 

[Luke M]

Under Tools-Options-View, there is an option to treat hide zero values.

Also, when dealing with a PivotTable you have the option of making blank
cells display 0.

In math operations, using a blank cell the value is calculated as zero.

However, there is not an option to make all blank cells display zero. (if
you think about it, this would make a giant spreadsheet, making it almost
impossible to print what you actually wanted)