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How to Hide, Replace, Empty, Format (blank) values with an empty field in an Excel Pivot Table without using filters –Step-By-Step

I have been struggling with this for a while.  Excel puts the word (blank) on  a pivot table field if it does not have any data.  I want the field displayed without data.  I see in Excel 2013 there is a checkbox under Pivot Table options but I could not get it to work Sad smile

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I did however finally figure it out.  I could solve it using conditional formatting.  I many workarounds online in the forums but unfortunately, after a data refresh, the pivot would revert.  Using conditional formatting we do not have this problem.

  1. Select the cells that you want to conditionally format [have a (blank) value] (you could select the entire column or even the table too if you want to do multiple columns [even if they do not have (blank) values)

  2. On the Home Tab of the Ribbon Select Conditional Formatting

  3. From the Dropdown, select New Rule

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  4. Select Format only cells that contain

  5. In the drop down box box select Cell Value

  6. in the second drop down box select equal to

  7. In the third box type in “ (blank) ” without the quotes

  8. Click the Format… Button

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  • On the Number tab; select Custom

  • Then to the right, under the word Type: just type in 3 semi-colons “ ;;; ”  without the quotes

  • Click OK

    image

  • If you want to change anything later (like the range to select the entire column or entire table) you can click Conditional Formatting then Manage Rules

  • Change the range to whatever you want the range to be and click OK

  • If you want to delete the rule; click Delete Rule

    image

  • The final result will look like the following:
    image

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2014
    You can also select one of the cells that contains "(Blank)" and type a space character to replace the text.
    The option "For empty cells" only affects cells in the Values area, not the row or column labels.
  • Anonymous
    December 16, 2014
    Thanks for the help! :)
  • Anonymous
    February 04, 2015
    this is the only solution that actually works ..read atleast 5 other links and all of them fail on refresh..thanks a lot!!
  • Anonymous
    March 19, 2015
    Nice!!
  • Anonymous
    March 23, 2015
    It works!!!! Love the 3 semi-colons “;;;”
  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2015
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    April 10, 2015
    I do something that is much simpler, that I think provides the same result; it definitely looks the same. Click on the "Row Label" filter and uncheck Blanks. Then they don't show up, aren't counted in the totals and remain hidden upon refresh. Is there a reason to do it the way outlined here? If this method will make using my data easier to use I'm all for it but I can't see a difference in the result.
  • Anonymous
    May 02, 2015
    Awesome!
  • Anonymous
    May 02, 2015
    Awesome!
  • Anonymous
    May 14, 2015
    perfect - thanks so much
  • Anonymous
    May 26, 2015
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    June 06, 2015
    Your example was easy to follow and works perfectly. Thanks so much for sharing
  • Anonymous
    June 06, 2015
    Thansk!
  • Anonymous
    June 09, 2015
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2015
    TY...TY...TY...!!!!
  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2015
    is it same with the slicer?
    , it also have {Blanks}....haven't tried it yet
  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2015
    Great, finally a solution that works. Thanks.
  • Anonymous
    August 05, 2015
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2015
    Searched all internet but and finally an easy solution that really works. Thanks!!
  • Anonymous
    August 20, 2015
    The comment has been removed
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    August 25, 2015
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    August 25, 2015
    great suggestions found here !! thanks to all.
    another interesting method I found at http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2008/12/11/change-blank-labels-in-a-pivot-table/
    quite handy to quickly replace empty - ie. "(blank)" - occurrences in your pivot, without affecting the original table
  • Anonymous
    August 25, 2015
    This helped greatly. Thank you!
  • Anonymous
    September 02, 2015
    This is great. Instruction is clear and it works. Thanks a lot
  • Anonymous
    September 22, 2015
    This works!! Thank you :)
  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2015
    Can you replace it with anything else (i.e. 'N/A') using this method?
  • Anonymous
    October 15, 2015

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  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2015
    Thank you Debra Dalgleish. Your comment helped.
  • Anonymous
    November 12, 2015
    You can also just add the measure value as a filter and filter out blanks...
  • Anonymous
    November 12, 2015
    You can also just add the measure value as a filter and filter out blanks...
  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2015
    Great - Thanks for this :)
  • Anonymous
    December 01, 2015
    Thanks for this tip. It is the only won that worked to clear blanks in Rows/Columns fields for a tabular style table. All built in options in Excel only work for the Values Fields.
  • Anonymous
    January 18, 2016
    Very very useful. Thanks you
  • Anonymous
    February 05, 2016
    Appreciate bro
  • Anonymous
    February 05, 2016
    Appreciate bro
  • Anonymous
    February 16, 2016
    If you do not want to display blank row or column, you can just right click on the header (for example blank), then filter and click "hide selected item). Even if you refresh, it will not show up