How to blank data in a single Google Sheets cell using "Update Spreadsheet Row" action.

On more than one occasion, I needed to delete the data in a single Google Sheet cell. But as noted Common Problems with Sheets article, this is not possible. The only option is to enter some sort of visible character or delete the entire row.

However, I found a simple solution. Just go to emptycharacter.com and click on the Copy To Clipboard in Method 1 and then paste the invisible character into the column of Update Spreadsheet Row action for the cell that you want to blank out. A small red dot should appear, indicating that there is a character there. (The dot may not always appear, but there is a character there.)

Run the zap, and the cell should be empty.

Be the first to reply!

That’s a great find, Ron! In the sheet is the cell completely blank?

The cell contents are not visible, and no characters will show up if you try editing the cell. It will appear completely blank.

However, if you check the cell using the isblank() function, it will report that it is not empty. So this may not be a good solution if formulas are referencing the cell.

If you do use this, it is probably a very good idea to add a comment to the cell that you are blanking as this is the type of thing that could really cause you great grief when you are trying to troubleshoot the sheet.

There’s a right way without any trick. You can set at the field this: =””

If you check the cell using the isblank() function it will report that it’s not empty, insted that if you check the cell using a if() function, you can check if is empty or not correctly, example: =IF(cell_modified="",1,0)

Regards

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