Example #1 - not green or red
In the example shown, the formula in C5, copied down, is: The literal translation of this formula is “NOT green or red”. At each row, the formula returns TRUE if the color in column B is not green or red, and FALSE if the color is green or red.
Example #2 - Not blank
A common use case for the NOT function is to reverse the behavior of another function. For example, If cell A1 is blank (empty), the ISBLANK function will return TRUE: To reverse this behavior, wrap the NOT function around the ISBLANK function: By adding NOT the output from ISBLANK is reversed. This formula will return TRUE when A1 is not empty and FALSE when A1 is empty. You might use this kind of test to only run a calculation if there is a value in A1: Translation: if A1 is not blank, divide B1 by A1, otherwise return an empty string (""). This is an example of nesting one function inside another.
Dave Bruns
Hi - I’m Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.
