Treating empty cells as missing data in formulae in Numbers '09

I'm working with numerical data where many cells are empty (missing data). My problem is that when I use formula to make calculations, Numbers treats empty cells as zeros, and won't let me search and replace an empty cell with a placeholder (like . in excel).
Any ideas?

When we don't want to display the result of a calculation on a certain condition, we can test for that condition and substitute a different output. In your case, you may have blank input cell and you don't want to display the negative result that would otherwise occur. There are at least two general approaches that you could use. The easiest would be to go ahead and make the calculation and then format all negative results to a font that wouldn't be visible, using Conditional Format. A slightly more complicated way, as Barry described above, would be to test for the blank cell condition and substitute a null string. Here's a graphic of the null string case.
When you have learned a few basic tricks this will all seem easy to you.
Jerry

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Excel allows array arithmetic (e.g. sum(a1:a5* b1:b5) where the contents of the cells are the results of formulae. Numbers only allows constants in the array cells. Right? Any work-arounds?

Excel allows array arithmetic (e.g. sum{(a1:a5* b1:b5)} where the contents of the cells are the results of formulae. Numbers only allows constants in the array cells. Right? Any work-arounds?

CJPerry wrote:
Any work-arounds?
There is a very simple one : use libreOffice.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) dimanche 1 janvier 2012
iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 12 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.2
My iDisk is : http://public.me.com/koenigyvan
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Word 2010 Mail Merge Missing Data

I have a large Excel data file:
1725 records, 31 columns, 1.74MB total size.
Other data:
Windows 7 (64 bit)
Word/Excel 2010 Version: 14.0.7116.5000 (32-bit)
I am running a standard mail merge on a filtered subset of the data (112 records). At least one of the merge fields is RANDOMLY missing from the merge document. This is clearly evident because this is a field that is populated for EVERY record. I don't believe
that I have every seen this behavior before.
Can someone please direct me to the cause of this or a work-around?

There are numerous possible reasons. The most likely is that the column concerned has missed data types (e.g. numbers plus text and/or dates). Some explanation:
By default, Word (2002 & later) uses the OLE DB provider to get merge data from an Excel workbook. The basic problem with using the OLE DB provider is that it's designed to return data in a way that is compatible with Access and other relational database
packages. Access requires a specific data type for each field, and every value in that field must have only that data type. In Excel, however, cells in a column (field) can have different data types. When the OLE DB provider gets data from an Excel column
with mixed data types, it has to determine the data type for each column. The first 8 records are used for that (the 8 can be changed in the Windows Registry, but it’s not advisable to do so). Records that don’t conform to the determined data type are liable
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• Numbers but not text or dates being output for some records; and
• Text data being truncated at 255 characters.
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Workarounds include:
• Inserting a dummy first record containing data in the format that is not being output correctly; or
• Reordering the data so the first record has content in the format that is not otherwise being output correctly.
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Export to spreadsheet - Excel cells missing data

We have an ApEx report that when wildcards are used for 3 parameters the report renders data to the browser as expected, but when the report is exported to spreadsheet the last 3 cells on the worksheet are missing data. However, if the parameters are set with specific data the report exports with all data. Anybody any ideas what might cause this to happen?
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I am not able to reproduce the issue. Make sure you are using SP1:
SAP Crystal Reports, developer version for Microsoft Visual Studio: Updates & Runtime Downloads [original link is broken]
If that does not help, define "displaced". A pic may be worth a 1000 words :).
Ludek
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SAPCRNetSup
Got Enhancement ideas? Try the [SAP Idea Place|https://ideas.sap.com/community/products_and_solutions/crystalreports]

Slow response when entering data to an empty cell?

Hey there...
I have this issue that when I start entering data into an empty cell or owerwriting one, the response is slow; when I press a button on the keyboard it takes roughly 1 second before anything visual happens in the cell, but when the data "makes it way through" the response is normal when hitting the keyboard.
Is anyone else experince a slow response when entering data to an empty cell in Number 09 or when overwriting one?/ Anyone familar with a similar issue, and is there anybody who knows how to fix this, or is it just normal for Numbers 09 to be a bit sluggish in the beginning when entering data?
I've recently swithced from Excel 2007 to Numbers 09, so sorry if the terminology is incorrect.

Question asked and answered several times.
Numbers was not coded by brains but by feet so, it behave sadly when the AutoSave Lion feature apply.
I posted a script getting rid of that.
Start from a template or duplicate the existing document just after opening it then close the original and work on the duplicate.
As it was never saved, AutoSave doesn't apply to it;
From time to time (say at least every ten minutes) call my script.
It wil duplicate the doc in progress and save it with a date_time stamped name.
this way, you will continue to enter datas in a never saved document.
Search for the string Auto_Save in the existing threads.
It's late and I'm too tired to search for you.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 26 décembre 2011 12:03:51
iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 12 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.2
My iDisk is : http://public.me.com/koenigyvan
Please : Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community
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5
2
4
3
9
4
8
5
6
7
4
8
3
9
10
2
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LS,
You presently get this:
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Suppress Missing Data not work in web form with formula column inside

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I've a planning web form with formula column inside to calculate the variance and % variance. But missing cell can't be suppressed, although I've checked the 'Suppress Missing Blocks' and 'Suppress Missing Data' options.
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VieN

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Hi,
Refer
OBIEE Changing unchangeable cells
http://obiee101.blogspot.in/2010/02/obiee-changing-unchangeable-cells.html
Award points if this helped to help others with similar issues.
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Similar question:
Have 2 sheets: "Owes" and "sign up"
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I am trying to produce line charts for a series of events. The way it will work is there are 15 days, and measurements are taken at uneven intervals, such as day 1, 2, 3, 7, 12, 13, 14. When I plot these, the line links the plot marks where they are just a day apart, like 1,2,3, leave a dot for 7 and then have a line between 13 and 14. How do I link the line so it can jump the days without any measured data?
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What you are describing is what happens when you have empty rows in your data series. Numbers does not have the option of connecting points across a gap.
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I have a crosstab table and some of the cells within the table are empty purely because there is no data in the database which is reasonable.
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Tom

Hi Tom
Steps to fill empty cell with '0':-
1. Select intersection cell in cross tab.
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5. Enter 0 in all text boxes(Positive, Negative, Equal to zero, and Undefined).
6. Click ok.
Now you can see 0 in the Emply cells of cross tab.
If you want decimal values, enter 0.00 in Positive box.

Treating empty cells as missing data in formulae in Numbers '09

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