Handling blank data points

[jo2109]

I have a chart which is has "" in a formula to clear contents when not
applicable to show error. This results in the chart treating the cell as 0
and therefore ugly result in data point.

All other post responses to this type of question suggest using NA() and
conditional formation to hide the error.. Unfortunately when this is used
this screws up my SUM() and AVG() formulas..

Any other suggestions?

Thanks
Jo

 

[OssieMac]

Hi Jo,

I don't know if this is the best way but what I have done under similar
circumstances is use the #N/A for the chart series data column and then I use
a helper column. In the helper column I insert the following formula
(Assuming that column B is the chart series data and the following formula is
in any other column.
=IF(ISERROR(B2),0,B2)

That way I have a column that includes the zeros for the math functions.

You can still place the sum and average formulas at the bottom (or wherever)
of column B but they actually sum and average the data in the helper column.

Hide the helper column if desired. You can even place the helper column on
another worksheet and hide the worksheet.

 

[David Biddulph]

You probably want =IF(ISERROR(B2),"",B2) [or more specifically
=IF(ISNA(B2),"",B2) ] rather than =IF(ISERROR(B2),0,B2), as the zeroes could
screw up your averages.

 

[jo2109]

Thanks for the tip but unfortunately the "" is not just in one cell but is
part of a formula for many cells and may be the outcome for a number of data
points. Your suggestion simply leads me to believe that to alleviate the
issue I need to totally replicate my numbers for to pick up the 'pretty'
number for one part and the data series to plot as another..

I'm hoping not to replicate the whole section simply to have the graph not
plot null data.

You probably want =IF(ISERROR(B2),"",B2) [or more specifically
=IF(ISNA(B2),"",B2) ] rather than =IF(ISERROR(B2),0,B2), as the zeroes could
screw up your averages.
--
David Biddulph

Hi Jo,

I don't know if this is the best way but what I have done under similar
circumstances is use the #N/A for the chart series data column and then I
use
a helper column. In the helper column I insert the following formula
(Assuming that column B is the chart series data and the following formula
is
in any other column.
=IF(ISERROR(B2),0,B2)

That way I have a column that includes the zeros for the math functions.

You can still place the sum and average formulas at the bottom (or
wherever)
of column B but they actually sum and average the data in the helper
column.

Hide the helper column if desired. You can even place the helper column on
another worksheet and hide the worksheet.