# How to check if a range of cells is empty in Excel

Count what is filled in and test for zero: =IF(COUNTA(B2:E2)=0,"No response","Answered").

**Excel:** `=IF(COUNTA(B2:E2)=0,"No response","Answered")` (Every current version)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C | D | E | F |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Respondent | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Status |
| R-1 |  |  |  |  |  |
| R-2 | 4 | 5 |  | 3 |  |
| R-3 | 2 |  |  |  |  |
| R-4 |  |  |  |  |  |
| R-5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 |  |

Formula in F2, filled to F6: `=IF(COUNTA(B2:E2)=0,"No response","Answered")`

Result: No response; Answered; Answered; No response; Answered

## How it works

COUNTA counts the cells that contain anything. Zero means every cell in the range is empty. R-3 answered only one question, which is enough to count as answered.

## Other ways

- `=IF(COUNTBLANK(B2:E2)=COLUMNS(B2:E2),"No response","Answered")`: All cells blank means the blank count equals the number of columns. Unlike COUNTA, it treats formulas that return "" as blank.
- `=IF(SUMPRODUCT(--(B2:E2<>""))=0,"No response","Answered")`: Counts cells that aren't empty text, so formulas returning "" count as empty too.

## Common mistakes

- ISBLANK checks one cell. Given a range, it returns one TRUE or FALSE per cell rather than a single answer, so count instead.
- COUNTA counts cells holding a space or a formula that returns "". Use the COUNTBLANK version when the row contains formulas.

## Questions

**How do I label partly completed rows?**

`=IF(COUNTA(B2:E2)=0,"None",IF(COUNTA(B2:E2)<4,"Partial","Complete"))`.

**How do I count the empty rows?**

Count the labels: `=COUNTIF(F2:F6,"No response")`.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/check-if-a-range-is-empty