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google-sheetsformattinggoogle-sheets-formulaformulaconditional-formatting

Possible to add "input" text in cell using formaiting in sheet?

I don't know the programming term for it, but what I mean is when you have an input field, and it says for example name in the box, and then you write your name in the box.

I am trying to do this in sheet. What I would like to do is to have a cell that says Search when empty and then can take input.

I have tried conditional formatting with =IF(A1="", "Search,"") and also =IF(ISBLANK(A1)"Search","")

Maybe this is not possible to achieve for conditional formatting?

Solution

  • one simple way is to use cell above or cell to the left where you place the formula. for example, if your input for search is C6 put this into C5:

    =IF(C6<>"",, {""; "Search"})

    or in B6:

    =IF(C6<>"",, {"", "Search"})

    enter image description here

    then for convenience is recommended to conditional format =C6="Search" to some light gray color, and preferably hide 5th row or B column to not delete formula by accident. sometimes even shrinking of row/column to 2px looks nice