# Empty field instead of #VALUE! **URL:** \ **Category:** Formulas\ **Created:** [May 21, 2025, 10:38am UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656 "2025-05-21T10:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/u/Max1411)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 10:38am UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/1 "2025-05-21T10:38:23Z")
Hi there, I am newbie. I have a simple formular, which gives me in Cell A a date 12 month later then a date in cell B. If there is no date in the cell B, I want cell A to be empty but I get #VALUE!. I tried the ifempty formular, but as soons as I put something like “” in the true part, the cell isn´t in date format anymore… ---
**Author:** ![bha](https://forum.seatable.com/user_avatar/forum.seatable.com/bha/32/4702_2.png) [@bha](https://forum.seatable.com/u/bha)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/2 "2025-05-21T12:37:54Z")
Hi @Max1411, I think you don’t have to specify something in the _else_ part, for example the formula `if(not(isempty("Column B")),dateAdd({Column B},12,"months"))` worked when I tried it: it calculates the date if Column B is not empty and displays nothing if Column B is empty (but the column is still considered having a date format). Hope this helps… Bests, Benjamin ---
**Author:** ![Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/u/Max1411)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/3 "2025-05-21T16:37:56Z")
Thank you @bha. Unfortunately the type changes to string instead of date, which leads to a non european date format and things like date rules for color columns don´t work anymore. ---
**Author:** ![bha](https://forum.seatable.com/user_avatar/forum.seatable.com/bha/32/4702_2.png) [@bha](https://forum.seatable.com/u/bha)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/4 "2025-05-21T17:54:21Z")
Hi again, Are you sure you use the same formula? In mine, there is nothing like the “” you mentioned (the _if_ formula should look like _if(logical, value1, value2)_ but I just defined _if(logical, value1)_ but nothing happens when the condition is false), and as I said in my last message, the detected format remains european/date. ![date_format](https://forum.seatable.io/uploads/default/original/2X/8/878e9e51c46abd0bae0e549c48831c7d8a8476d8.gif) Bests, Benjamin ---
**Author:** ![Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/u/Max1411)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/5 "2025-05-21T19:55:39Z")
I used your formula: ```auto if(not(isempty("Letzte Validierung")), dateadd({Letzte Validierung},12,"months")) ``` As soon as I use that formula it jumps to string. When I use only `dateadd({Letzte Validierung},12,"months")`, it´s date. I don’t really get it. ---
**Author:** ![bha](https://forum.seatable.com/user_avatar/forum.seatable.com/bha/32/4702_2.png) [@bha](https://forum.seatable.com/u/bha)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 9:18am UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/6 "2025-05-22T09:18:12Z")
This is really weird, I can’t reproduce this issue… I thought it might be because I tested on self-hosted enterprise edition whereas maybe you use rather the cloud version, but even on the cloud version I get the same behaviour I already described 🤔 Maybe @cdb or @rdb would have another idea about that… Bests, Benjamin ---
**Author:** ![abaer](https://forum.seatable.com/user_avatar/forum.seatable.com/abaer/32/4748_2.png) [@abaer](https://forum.seatable.com/u/abaer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 9:25am UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/7 "2025-05-22T09:25:55Z")
@Max1411 , to bring the example of @bha and yours together, please make a screenshot of the top of your date and formula columns from an unsorted and unfiltered view. Background: I have the suspicion that while the very first date values in “Column B” in the example of @bha contain a date (in fact, the top one), yours doesn’t. The format detection runs on the very first value of a column. If that is empty (no else clause in the if()), then it runs into #!VALUE, or string (else “”), or an undefined state. What you just found out is that the automatic format detection of formula colums (and only that, thank god) is a bit of a mess. Three main points which were discussed elsewhere before: - Working with heterogenous values as in your case. If my theory is true, you can trick seatable into detecting the format by _once_ making sure that there is a date in the first line, and then trigger the detection. - It’s shaky IMHO, because I have no idea whether this will be automatically re-triggered by the system. - I just figured out that every formula change seems to trigger a format recognition. Which makes the workflow “change formula” - “make sure that first value is filled” - “re-trigger” - “erase dummy value from first line” - The fact that an empty if()-else-clause seems to create a string, and not for example NULL - unverified: `if(true(),"Hi")` equals `if(true(),"Hi","")` - Something I just found out: not even explicit true()/false() constants return boolean. - `isempty("A")` =\> Boolean - `if(isempty("A"),true(),false())` =\> String! ---
**Author:** ![bha](https://forum.seatable.com/user_avatar/forum.seatable.com/bha/32/4702_2.png) [@bha](https://forum.seatable.com/u/bha)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 9:36am UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/8 "2025-05-22T09:36:59Z")
@abaer you’re right, if I replace the first line by an empty one, the detected format is actually string! Bests, Benjamin PS : seems like a part of your previous message is missing, that’s a pity because it promised to be really interesting! ---
**Author:** ![abaer](https://forum.seatable.com/user_avatar/forum.seatable.com/abaer/32/4748_2.png) [@abaer](https://forum.seatable.com/u/abaer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 9:39am UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/9 "2025-05-22T09:39:28Z")
Thanks for verifying! Yes, my computer crashed. Added the missing bits @Max1411, so the formula didn’t make the difference, just the value in the first line. ---
**Author:** ![abaer](https://forum.seatable.com/user_avatar/forum.seatable.com/abaer/32/4748_2.png) [@abaer](https://forum.seatable.com/u/abaer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 9:51am UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/10 "2025-05-22T09:51:04Z")
@rdb @cdb @daniel.pan here’s my suggestion to fix this, seaparted from my general moaning 😉 - Make the automatic formula format detection dependent on the first **non-empty value** (and not an empty string) - Make sure that developers have the chance to distinguish “empty cell” (internally empty in the database) as a return value of a formula from “empty string” (just visually empty). - This is just an educated guess, but judging from the Seatable API, a `NULL` value seems to indicate an empty value internally. - If that is the case, introduce a constand `null()` along with `true()` and `false()` - Or, for use by non-programmers like me, a non-technical constant `empty()` - Maybe fix an inconsistency like `if(isempty("A"),true(),false())` returning string - Define or document that an empty else in `if(condition,then,else)` returns a string - Alternatively and in accordance to the above, change it to `null` (or whatever `empty` will be) ---
**Author:** ![Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Max1411](https://forum.seatable.com/u/Max1411)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.seatable.com/t/empty-field-instead-of-value/6656/11 "2025-05-23T13:57:52Z")
Thank you guys a lot. At least I know the cause now. Any chance to get the #Value! visually away?