How to Check for Empty Cells with ISBLANK in Excel

Spot missing entries with ISBLANK and turn them into next-step reminders or data-quality counts.

You will learn to

• Test whether a cell is empty
• Drive a next-step message from empty cells
• Count rows where two fields are both empty

How it works

ISBLANK(value) returns TRUE when a cell is completely empty and FALSE when it holds anything — a number, text, a space or even a formula that returns "". =IF(ISBLANK(D2),"Schedule interview","Interview set") turns a missing date into a clear next step.

That strictness is the key detail: a cell containing ="" looks empty but ISBLANK says FALSE. If your data comes from formulas, test D2="" instead. To count empties across a range, use COUNTBLANK or SUMPRODUCT(--ISBLANK(range)).

=IF(ISBLANK(D2),"Schedule interview","Interview set")