What is null in excel

What is #NULL in Excel?

A #NULL error in Excel usually occurs when there is an error in typing or the syntax of a formula. The null error occurs when you miss punctuations, commas, or quotation marks in the syntax. It also appears when you type an incorrect range/cell reference or a reference name that has already been deleted. Though it is not as common as the other errors like “#VALUE!” the #NULL helps you catch and correct these mistakes.

For instance, let us look at a formula to find the sum of the integers specified in the cells below. We must use the formula =SUM(A2:A5) in cell A6. Therefore, if you miss inserting the colon and instead type =SUM(A2 A5) in A6, you get the #NULL! Error.

ISBLANK to Find Null Cells in Excel

Now, besides the #NULL error, we also have null cells. A null cell is a blank cell in Excel. There are many ways to find blank cells in Excel and work on them. Let us look at different methods to find Null cells.

One of the methods is through using the ISBLANK excel function. The syntax of the ISBLANK function is =ISBLANK(value). Here, the argument value indicates the cell reference. The ISBLANK function returns a TRUE if the cell is blank, else it returns FALSE.

Let us look at an example below where we have a few blank cells while some have integers. We must apply the ISBLANK formula to find the blank cells.

• Step 1: Type the following formula in cell B2.

=IF(ISBLANK(A2)=TRUE, “Cell is blank”, “Value is “&A2)

• Here, we use the ISBLANK formula to check if cell A2 is blank.
• If the condition is true, ISBLANK returns TRUE.
• If TRUE, we print the message “Cell is blank” using the IF function.
• If ISBLANK is FALSE, it prints the value in the cell.

• Step 2: Press Enter. You get the value of 23 as cell A2 is not blank.

• Step 3: Drag the Autofill handle from A2 to A8. You can observe the results for all the cells in this range.

As observed, the actual values are printed for cells if not null in Excel, while “Cell is blank” is shown for all blank ones. Even the number 0 is not treated as null, and its value is printed. Only empty cells are considered NULL.

Shortcut to Find Null Cells in Excel

We have seen how to track cells that are blank or null in Excel with ISBLANK. There is an easier way to find if a cell is blank or not using a shortcut. Let us take the example of some students who have been present for a particular class. Absent students have not been parked “Present.”. We must use a shortcut to find blank cells and mention that the student is absent.

• Step 1: Now, we must find out if the student is present/absent and make some records to be sent for final verification. Type the formula =C2=”” in cell D2.

Here, the double quote “ “ is used to check whether the cell is NULL.

• Step 2: Press Enter. You get FALSE because the cell isn’t null. 

• Step 3: Drag the Autofill handle up to D9. You can find TRUE for all the blank cells and FALSE for all the non-blank ones.

How to Fix Null in Excel?

The #NULL! Error in Excel is uncommon and usually occurs when there are syntax-related issues. Now, if you encounter an #NULL error in your worksheet, how do you fix it? There are a few simple ways to do it.

#1 – Do a Simple Formula Check

• Check your formulas for commas, colons, or correct cell ranges. For example, =SUM(A2 B7) will give you an #NULL! Error. To correct the error, insert a colon between the references.
• =SUM(A2:B7) will give you the correct answer.
• Another common reason for encountering the error is the absence of a comma. For instance, =AVERAGE(C4, C5 C6) will give you an #NULL! Error. Adding a comma, =AVERAGE(C4, C5, C6), can easily correct this error.

Thus, small changes can be made to correct and insert the proper punctuation in the formula to avoid the #NULL! Error.

#2 – Enable the Error Checking Feature

Excel provides plenty of options to understand errors such as #NULL and offers solutions to fix them. For this, you must enable the error-checking feature. First, go to the File tab.

File ——> Options.

• Step 1: From here, select Formulas and check the Enable Background Error Checking box under Error Checking.

• Step 2: Now, let us look at an example. We have a few integers in cells A2 to A5. We must find their product. Enter the formula =PRODUCT(A2 A5) in cell A6. You get the yellow icon next to the box to indicate the #NULL error.

• Step 3: When you place the mouse on it, it shows the fundamental problem with your formula.

• Step 4: When you click on the arrow, it offers you some options.

• Step 5: We chose the Help on this Error option. It helps you with all the reasons leading to the #NULL error. Here, we find that the ‘:’ is missing. Hence, you can add it to the formula and fix the error.

• Step 6: Change the formula in A6 to =PRODUCT(A2:A5) and press Enter.

#3 – Using the Find-Replace option

Another option to fix such errors is the “Find and Replace” method. Check for the cells having the #NULL error and use the “Find Next” operation to check whether your formula in case it is missing a comma or colon or has some error in the cell ranges specified.

Examples

We can look at a few examples of handling blank or null in Excel. But, first, let us look at how we can handle n #Null error.

Example #1

Below is a table containing some numbers in rows. We must find the sum of the values interesting in the ranges we specify. We may use the Intersect operator (single space) in the SUM excel function for this.

• Step 1: We must find the sum of the cells intersecting in the range A3:C5 (red) and B4:C6 (green). The intersecting part of the ranges is specified in yellow.

• Step 2: However, we enter the range improperly, for instance, =SUM(A3: C4 B5:C6) in cell B7.Press Enter. You get the #NULL! Error since there are no intersecting cells in the ranges provided.

• Step 3: When you click on the arrow of the small yellow triangle, it helps you find the error in your formula and correct it.

• Step 4: Correct the formula to =SUM(A3:C4 B4:C6) in cell B7. You get the sum of the four numbers in cells B4:C5 (yellow box).

Example #2

Now that we saw how to fix Null errors, let us look at how to work with null cells. Below are the details of the employees’ whose birthdays they have already celebrated in a particular year. Here, we display null in Excel for those whose birthdays are yet to be celebrated. Next, let us see how to differentiate the two easily.

• Step 1: We must find the employees whose birthdays are yet to be celebrated. For this, we should enter the formula =IF(ISBLANK(C2), “To be celebrated”, “Done”) in cell D2.

• Here, we check if cell C2 in Column C is blank. If so, the birthday is not yet celebrated, and we print “To be celebrated,” or else we print “Done.”
• However, we also want “To be celebrated” in a different color to differentiate easily. Here, we can use Conditional formatting.
• Select Conditional Formatting from the Styles group in the Home tab and choose the option New Rule.

• Step 2: Choose the option “Format only cells that contain” and edit the Rule Description as follows:

• Choose “Specific Text” under “Format only cells with” and enter “To be celebrated” in the text box as we want to change its color. Click on the Format button.

• Step 3: Now, choose your desired color from the Font tab and press OK.

• Step 4: Now, enter =IF(ISBLANK(C2), “To be celebrated”, “Done”) in D2.

• Step 5: Press Enter and drag the Autofill handle from D2 to D11 to apply the formula to all the cells.

As observed, all the employees whose birthdays they are yet to celebrate have the text highlighted in a different color.

Important Things to Note

• Ensure that the error-checking feature in Excel is turned on to detect the reasons for the #NULL error in Excel.
• Typing errors, such as missing colons, lead to a NULL error.
• We can use a shortcut =cell reference=” “ to find null cells in Excel.
• Remember, if you type the space bar in a cell and still leave it blank, it is not considered an empty cell.
• You can use the LEN excel function to check for space typed to overcome this issue. It will return null in Excel only for blank cells.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Download Template

This article must help understand the NULL in Excel with its characteristics and examples. We can download the template here to use it instantly.

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Guide to NULL in Excel. Here we learn to find null cells with ISBLANK, fix NULL errors, along with examples and downloadable excel template. You can learn more from the following articles –

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• Errors In Excel

Null is an error that occurs in Excel when the two or more cell references provided in a formula are incorrect, or the position they have been placed in is erroneous. For example, suppose we use space in formulas between two cell references; we will encounter a null error. In that case, there are two reasons to meet this error, one if we used an incorrect range reference and another when we use the intersect operator, which is the space character.

NULL is nothing but nothing or blank in Excel. Usually, when working in Excel, we encounter many NULL or blank cells. We can use the formula and find out whether the particular cell is blank (NULL) or not.

We have several ways of finding the NULL cells in Excel. Today’s article will take a tour of dealing with NULL values in Excel.

How do you find which cell is blank or null? Yes, we must look at the particular cell and decide. Let us discover many methods of finding the null cells in Excel.

ISBLANK Function to Find NULL Value in Excel

In Excel, we have an ISBLANK function, which can find the blank cells in the worksheet. First, let us look at the syntax of the ISBLANK functionISBLANK in Excel is a logical function that checks if a target cell is blank or not. It returns the output “true” if the cell is empty (blank) or “false” if the cell is not empty. It is also known as referencing worksheet function and is grouped under the information function of Excel
read more.

The syntax is straightforward. Value is nothing but the cell reference; we are testing whether it is blank or not.

Since ISBLANK is a logical excel functionA logical test in Excel results in an analytical output, either true or false. The equals to operator, “=,” is the most commonly used logical test.read more, it will either return TRUE or FALSE. If the cell is NULL, it will return TRUE, or else it will return FALSE.

Note: ISBLANK will treat the single space as one character; if the cell has only space value, it will be recognized as a non-blank or non-null cell.

#1 – How to Find NULL Cells in Excel?

You can download this Null Value Excel Template here – Null Value Excel Template

#2 – Shortcut Way of Finding NULL Cells in Excel

We have seen the traditional formula way to find the null cells. Without using the ISBLANK function, we can find the null cells.

Let us open the formula with an equal sign (=).

After the equal sign, select cell A2 as the reference.

Now open one more equal sign after the cell reference.

Now mention open double-quotes and close double-quotes. (“”)

The sign double quotes (“”) says the selected cell is NULL or not. If the selected cell is NULL, we will get TRUE. Else, we will get FALSE.

Drag the formula to the remaining cells.

We can see that in cell B7, we got the result as “TRUE.” So it means it is a null cell.

#3 – How to Fill Our Values to NULL Cells in Excel?

We have seen how to find the NULL cells in the Excel sheet. In our formula, we could only get TRUE or FALSE. But we can also receive our values for the NULL cells.

Consider the below data for an example.

Step 1: Open the IF condition first.

Step 2: Here, we need to do a logical test. We need to test whether the cell is NULL or not. So apply A2=”.”

Step 3: If the logical test is TRUE (TRUE means cell is NULL), we need the result as “No Values Found.”

Step 4: If the logical test is FALSE (which means the cell contains values), then we need the same cell value.

We got the result as the same cell value.

Step 5: Drag the formula to the remaining cells.

So, we have got our value of No Values Found for all the NULL cells.

Things to Remember

• Even space will be considered a character and treated as a non-empty cell.
• Instead of ISBLANK, we can also use double quotes (“ ”) to test the NULL cells.
• If the cell seems blank and the formula shows it as a non-null cell, then you need to test the number of characters using the LEN function.

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This article is a guide to Null in Excel. We discuss the top methods to find null values in Excel using ISBLANK and shortcuts to replace those null cells, along with practical examples and a downloadable template. You may learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

• Excel Count RowsThere are numerous ways to count rows in Excel using the appropriate formula, whether they are data rows, empty rows, or rows containing numerical/text values. Depending on the circumstance, you can use the COUNTA, COUNT, COUNTBLANK, or COUNTIF functions.read more
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NULL in Excel (Table of Contents)

• What is Null Error in Excel?
• Examples of NULL in Excel

What is Null Error in Excel?

Null is an error value in a cell when Excel cannot properly evaluate a worksheet formula or function. This error is shown when you use an incorrect range operator in a formula or when you use an intersection operator. The error value itself plus the Error Option Button, displayed in the error formula, helps identify the problem by showing a small green triangle containing error values. The small green triangle indicates one of the cell contents is violating one of Excel’s errors checking rules.

So here below, we will show you how it looks like.

As shown in the above screenshot, the green triangle and a yellow diamond-shaped button which is next to that cell marked with Red Arrows and when you click that Yellow Diamond shaped icon in the cell will show you the Excel’s error options button, which contains the options in the drop-down list to correct the perceived error.

Examples of NULL in Excel

Excel display some of the #Null! Errors which are very common. We will show you the list of those common error values along with some examples.

You can download this NULL Excel Template here – NULL Excel Template

Example #1

As shown below, we have the employees name in Column A and Productive Hours in Column B, so if we want to get the Total Productive hours of the below employees, we will Sum the hours from Column B2 to B4 but we have to input the Formula (=B2+B3 B4).

We have given space instead of the plus sign(+), so we got the #NULL! Error in Column B5.

Now to rectify the error, we can click the Yellow Diamond Icon, and we will show that we need to input the correct formula in the formula bar, which is (=B2+B3+B4), which will give us the Total Productive Hours and rectify the #NULL! Error. Refer to the below screenshot.

After applying the formula, the result is shown below.

Note: #Null! error can occur when the start and the endpoints of the cell are separated by a space instead of using the range operator, which is the “Colon (:)”.

Example #2

Suppose we need to take the Total Gross Profit of the resources in the below example for 12 resources with their gross profits in column B3 to B14.

You can see that in column B13, we are getting the #NULL! Error. This is because, in the Formula bar, we have input the formula (=SUM (B2 B13)).

Suppose you want to rectify the #NULL! error you can add “Colon (:)” instead of “Space” in the formula bar (=SUM (B2:B13)) as shown in the below screenshot.

After applying the formula, the result is shown below.

Note: #NULL! Errors can occur when the Individual cell references in a formula are separated by space instead of the Union operator, the “Comma (,)”.

Example #3

Another example shows where you are adding up Multiple ranges, and instead of adding “Comma”, we give space for those individual ranges, which as a result will give us the NULL Error and rectify that we will use Comma as the Union operator.

We need the Total Gross Profit of resources for both January and February month, so we insert the Sum formula for the Total Gross Profit (=SUM (B1:B12 C1:C12)) in the formula bar, but it will give us the #NULL! Error.

To eradicate the Null Error, input “Comma (,)” between both ranges.

After using the above formula, the output is shown below.

Example #4

In the below example, we have taken two students marks in 5 subjects in 2 different rows, which do not intersect. This is when we get the Null error in Excel.

After using the formula, the output is shown below.

To eradicate the Null Error, input “Comma (,)” between both ranges.

After using the formula, the output is shown below.

Example #5

Intersect operator is basically used when you need the values which come from the intersection of one or more columns or rows. “Intersect Operator” allows performing the calculation on the ranges that intersect.

Let us try to use the intersection operator in the below example where you need to calculate Peter’s sales in February Month. We would input the Formula in the formula bar =(B3:E3 C2:C5) in cell B7.

Once the formula is applied, we will get the sales value for Peter in February month which is 277.

If you want to calculate the sales of Peter for January and April also, you could use=SUM (Peter Jan, Peter Apr), which means we need to input the formula in the formula bar “=SUM (B2:B5 B3:E3, E2:E5 B3:E3)”.

In cell B6, to get the sales value of Peter which is 1276 for both the months. The space between the two named ranges is the Intersect Operator.

Things to Remember About NULL in Excel

• If error checking is turned on in Excel, then you can easily fix your #NULL! error by clicking the Yellow Diamond icon next to the cell, which shows the error. Click on Help or Show Calculation Steps if it’s available and pick the resolution that works for your data.
• Excel #NULL! error will appear in case of two reasons. Whether you have used an incorrect range operator or trying to use the intersect operator where there is no intersection of ranges. #Null! Error gets returned when Excel can’t figure out the range specified in the cell.
• Use of Colon, Comma, Space, and mathematical operator (plus sign (+) needs be to input correctly in the formula to avoid the #NULL! Error in Excel.
• Excel display some of the #Null! Errors which are very common. We will show you the list of those common error values along with some common causes and solutions which will be helpful to correct them. #Null! Error Values occur when incorrectly or unintentionally, a “SPACE” character is used as the intersect operator between two or more cells. This error is shown when you use an incorrect range operator in a formula. The error occurs if the Multiple cell references in a formula are separated by a space instead of a mathematical operator such as a plus sign (+).
• #NULL! error occurs when the intersect operator (the space character) is used intentionally, but specified ranges do not intersect.

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Null в Excel | Основные методы поиска значения NULL ячейки в Excel (примеры)

Null — это тип ошибки, которая возникает в Excel, когда две или более ссылки на ячейки, указанные в формулах, неверны или позиция, в которой они были размещены, неверна, если мы используем пробел в формулах между двумя ссылками на ячейки, мы столкнемся с нулевой ошибкой, там Есть две причины возникновения этой ошибки: одна — если мы использовали неправильную ссылку на диапазон, а другая — когда мы использовали оператор пересечения, который является символом пробела.

Нулевой в Excel

NULL — это не что иное, как ничего или пустое значение в excel. Обычно, когда мы работаем в excel, мы сталкиваемся с множеством NULL или пустых ячеек. Мы можем использовать формулу и выяснить, является ли конкретная ячейка пустой (NULL) или нет.

У нас есть несколько способов найти NULL-ячейки в Excel. В сегодняшней статье мы рассмотрим работу со значениями NULL в Excel.

Как определить, какая ячейка на самом деле пустая или пустая? Да, конечно, нам просто нужно посмотреть на конкретную ячейку и принять решение. Давайте откроем для себя множество методов поиска нулевых ячеек в Excel.

Функция ISBLANK для поиска значения NULL в Excel

В Excel у нас есть встроенная функция ISBLANK function, которая может находить пустые ячейки на листе. Давайте посмотрим на синтаксис функции ISBLANK.

Синтаксис прост и понятен. Значение — это не что иное, как ссылка на ячейку, которую мы проверяем, является ли она пустой или нет.

Поскольку ISBLANK — это логическая функция Excel, в результате она вернет TRUE или FALSE. Если ячейка ПУСТО (NULL), она вернет ИСТИНА, иначе она вернет ЛОЖЬ.

Примечание. ISBLANK будет рассматривать один пробел как один символ, и если в ячейке есть только пробел, он будет распознаваться как непустая или непустая ячейка.

# 1 — Как найти NULL ячейки в Excel?

Предположим, у вас есть следующие значения в файле Excel, и вы хотите протестировать все пустые ячейки в диапазоне.

Откроем формулу ISBLANK в ячейке B2.

Выберите ячейку A2 в качестве аргумента. Поскольку есть только один аргумент, закройте скобку

Мы получили результат, как показано ниже:

Перетащите формулу в другие оставшиеся ячейки.

Мы получили результаты, но посмотрим на ячейку B7, хотя в ячейке A7 нет значения, формула все же вернула результат как False, т.е. ненулевую ячейку.

Давайте применим функцию LEN в Excel, чтобы найти номер. символов в ячейке.

Он считает нет. символов и дает результат.

Функция LEN вернула номер символа в ячейке A7 как 1. Итак, в нем должен быть символ.

Теперь отредактируем ячейку. Итак, мы нашли здесь пробел, давайте удалим пробел, чтобы формула показывала точные результаты.

Я удалил пробел, и формула ISBLANK вернула результат как ИСТИНА, и даже функция LEN сообщает, что в ячейке A7 нет символов.

# 2 — Быстрый способ поиска NULL ячеек в Excel

Мы видели традиционный способ поиска пустых ячеек с помощью формулы. Без использования функции ISBLANK мы можем найти нулевые ячейки.

Откроем формулу со знаком равенства (=).

После равенства выбирает ячейку A2 в качестве ссылки.

Теперь откройте еще один знак равенства после ссылки на ячейку.

Теперь упомяните открытые двойные кавычки и закрытые двойные кавычки. («»)

Знаки, заключенные в двойные кавычки («»), указывают, является ли выбранная ячейка ПУСТОЙ или нет. Если выбранная ячейка — ПУСТО (NULL), мы получим ИСТИНА, иначе мы получим ЛОЖЬ.

Перетащите формулу в оставшиеся ячейки.

Мы видим, что в ячейке B7 мы получили результат «Истина». Это означает, что это пустая ячейка.

# 3 — Как заполнить наши собственные значения до NULL ячеек в Excel?

Мы видели, как найти NULL-ячейки на листе Excel. В нашей формуле в результате мы могли получить только ИСТИНА или ЛОЖЬ. Но мы также можем получить свои собственные значения для NULL ячеек.

Рассмотрим в качестве примера данные ниже.

Шаг 1. Сначала откройте условие IF.

Шаг 2: Здесь нам нужно провести логический тест, т.е. нам нужно проверить, является ли ячейка NULL или нет. Так что примените A2 = ””.

Шаг 3: Если логический тест — ИСТИНА (ИСТИНА означает, что ячейка НУЛЯ), нам нужен результат как «Значения не найдены».

Шаг 4: Если логический тест — ЛОЖЬ (ЛОЖЬ означает, что ячейка содержит значения), то нам нужно то же значение ячейки.

Мы получили результат как то же значение ячейки.

Шаг 5: Перетащите формулу в оставшиеся ячейки.

Итак, у нас есть собственное значение « Никаких значений не найдено» для всех ячеек NULL.

Источник

Correct a #NULL! error

This error is shown when you use an incorrect range operator in a formula, or when you use an intersection operator (space character) between range references to specify an intersection of two ranges that don’t intersect. An intersection is a point in a worksheet where data in two or more ranges cross.

If you’ve used an incorrect range operator, make sure you use:

A colon (:) to separate the first cell from the last cell when you refer to a continuous range of cells in a formula. For example, SUM(A1:A10) refers to the range that includes cells A1 through cell A10.

A comma (,) as the union operator when you refer to two areas that don’t intersect. For example, if the formula sums two ranges, make sure that a comma separates the two ranges (SUM(A1:A10,C1:C10)).

If you get this error because you’ve used a space character between ranges that don’t intersect, change the references so that ranges do intersect.

For example, in the formula =CELL(“address”,(A1:A5 C1:C3)), the ranges A1:A5 and C1:C3 don’t intersect, and the formula returns the #NULL! error. If you change this to =CELL(«address»,(A1:A5 A3:C3)), the CELL function returns the cell address at which the two ranges intersect—cell A3.

Tip: If error checking is turned on in Excel, you can click next to cell that shows the error. Click Show Calculation Steps if it’s available. Then pick the resolution that works for your data.

Источник

#NULL! Error In Excel – How To Fix

The #NULL! error is less common than other errors like #VALUE! or #NUM! errors. The error is basically Excel telling you that you’ve supplied an invalid range operator in the formula you’ve used in a particular cell. In most cases, you’ll see a #NULL! error when you’ve inserted a space, comma, or semicolon incorrectly in a formula. But what exactly is the #NULL! error?

Table of Contents

What is #NULL! Error in Excel?

The #NULL! error signifies that you’ve committed a typing error while inserting your formula. In most cases, fixing #NULL! error just requires that you verify the accuracy of the formula. Before you go ahead and check a formula though, you’ll need to know the potential causes of a #NULL! error.

Why Does it Appear?

#NULL! error occurs when you’ve entered the name of the range, haven’t added double quotes for a text string, or referred to a range name that doesn’t exist or has been deleted. It can also occur when you’ve used an intersection operator between two non-intersecting range references.

For instance, say you want to sum the cell range A3 to A7 and you’ve used the following formula:

You’ll receive a #NULL! error because there’s no colon between the cell references. If you’re wondering how to get rid of the #NULL! error, we’re going to walk you through a couple of examples so you can address the #NULL! error for pretty much any formula.

Examples

Now, let’s go through a few examples and try to understand how to fix the #NULL! error.

1. Skipping a Colon

Let’s talk about the formula we just discussed. Notice how the range entered in the SUM function formula has no colon, but instead has a space in between the first and last cell reference. To fix the formula, you only need to enter a colon between those cell references, like so:

Just doing this will fix the #NULL! error for this formula.

2. Skipping a Comma

Excel also returns a #NULL! error when you skip a comma and enter a space character instead. For instance, say you’re summing two cell ranges, A3:A7 and B3:B7, but you incorrectly enter the following formula:

The cell ranges inside the SUM function haven’t been separated by a comma. Instead, there’s a space character between them. That’s no good; you’re going to get a #NULL! error.

The solution, of course, is just to add the comma, like so:

You’ll now see the correct output as 30, which is the summation of both the cell ranges you’ve entered.

3. Space Characters Between Non-Intersecting Ranges

Whenever you enter a space character into your Excel formula, Excel reads it as an intersect operator. So, what’s an intersect operator?

Well, say that you have numeric data in three columns A, B, and C. You want to sum only that data that intersects between column A, column B, and row 5. Now, this may be simple on small data sets because you can just sum up the fifth row for columns A and B. On larger data sets though, you’ll need a more robust, scalable formula. So, how do you do this with a formula where there’s minimal manual effort?

Well, not if you know how to use the intersect operator. Here’s the formula you could use for this summation:

What the formula does is that it looks at the data in cells starting from cell A3, right down to cell B7. Then it screens these cells to verify intersection with cells A5, B5, and C5, since we’ve used the space character (i.e., intersect operator). It then sums up all values that are in cells that intersect. In this case, the sum would be 6.

However, this formula would return a #NULL! error had you used this formula:

Well, none of the cell ranges are intersecting based on the supplied data. This example is fundamentally different from the previous two because you haven’t committed any errors in typing the formula. Instead, you’ve supplied the data such that there’s no intersection of data.

It’s helpful to look at the cells highlighted by Excel as you type the formula. If the cell ranges don’t intersect, you’ll be able to eyeball the #NULL! error from a mile away. However, if you do get the #NULL! error, you know how to fix it.

Okay, so that’s all you need to know to fix the #NULL! error on your spreadsheet. If you have a couple of spreadsheets lined up with #NULL! errors, see if you can resolve them by using the examples given here as a reference.

Remember, there are usually (though not always) two reasons that cause a #NULL! error: incorrectly inserting a space character instead of another operator, or using the intersect operator for ranges that don’t intersect. In other cases, you should check if you’ve typed the cell range name incorrectly, if you’ve referenced a range that doesn’t exist, or you didn’t add double quotes around a test string. When you’re done, we’ll have some more Excel tutorials ready for you to practice.

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