How to Highlight Blank Cells in Excel

It’s hard to recognize blank cells in a large data. Because a blank cell is just a white cell without any value.

In most of the cases, blank cells represent some sort of gap, missing data, or a formula returns an empty string resulting in a blank cell.

And that’s why it’s recommended to highlight these cells with a color so that we can recognize them.

You might be wondering:

Which is the best method to find and highlight cells that are blank?

But here’s the kicker:

It depends on you as there are more than one ways for this and you can use any of these ways to get your work done.

And, all of these methods are unique.

So today, in this post, I’d like to share with you 3 different methods which you can use to highlight blank cell in Excel.

So let’s get started.

Here we have below table where we have some empty cells. You can download it from here to follow along.

Quick Navigation

1. Using GoTo Special

2. With CF

3. VBA Code

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1. Select and Highlight Blank Cells with GoTo Special

If you want to apply color to all the blank cells from a range, go to special option can be an easy to use way.

This method is simple ➤ select all the blank cells and apply cell color. Yes, that’s it.

Here are the steps.

First of all, select your entire data.

how to highlight blank cells select data

Go to Home Tab -> Find & Select -> Click on “Go To Special”.

select goto to highlight blank cells in excel

From Go To Special window, select “Blank” and click OK. (It will select all the blank cells from the table.)

select blank to highlight blank cells in excel

After that, go to Home Tab and apply the color to highlight the cells.

apply color to highlight blank cells in excel

Important Note: If you want to use a dynamic method, you apply conditional method, see the next method.

2. Apply Conditional Formatting to Highlight Blank Cells

First of all, select the data table.

Go to -> Home tab -> Conditional Formatting.

how to highlight blank cells goto home tab

In conditional formatting options, select “highlight cell rules” and click ” more rules”.

how to highlight blank cells select more rules

Now, from rule description select the “Blank” from the drop menu.

how to highlight blank cells select blank from drop down

After that, click on Format button to open formatting option.

how to highlight blank cells click format button

From formatting options, select the color you want to use for highlighting.

Click OK.

use red color to highlight blank cells in excel

And, the best part is, if you have blank cells with a formula it will also highlight it and if you have pivot table instead of a normal table, the steps will be same.

Quick Tip: It’s a one-time setup, you don’t have to apply it again and again. Use a table in your data and conditional formatting will extend when you add new data to the table.

3. Using a VBA Code to Highlight Blank Cell

I know you have an unconditional love for VBA. And, that’s why we have a macro code to apply color to all the blank cells from a selected range.

Sub ColorBlankCells()
Dim rng As Range
Set rng = Selection
rng.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeBlanks).Interior.Color = vbRed
End Sub

When you run this code it will check each cell from the range and then apply red color if a cell is blank.

Conclusion

So these are the 3 methods which you can use to highlight blank cells. You can use any of these methods which you think is a perfect for you.

And, if you ask me I always prefer to use conditional formatting because it’s dynamic, so you don’t need to apply it again and again.

I hope these methods with help you in your daily work.

Now tell me one thing.

Do you have any other method to apply color to blank cells?

Please share with me in the comment section, I would love to hear from you. And, please don’t forget to share this tip with your friends.

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