Which columns have missing data in this Excel file?

Why different checks give different answers

COUNTBLANK() counts both genuinely empty cells and cells containing a formula that evaluates to an empty string (""), treating them the same way. ISBLANK(), by contrast, only returns TRUE for cells with absolutely nothing in them — a formula returning "" makes ISBLANK() return FALSE, because the cell technically contains a formula, even though it displays nothing. Run both checks on the same column and you can get two different counts, and neither one catches a cell that contains a single space character, which is neither blank to COUNTBLANK nor to ISBLANK since it holds an actual (invisible) character.

Why this matters beyond a definitional quibble

If you're checking for missing data before an import or a calculation, the distinction is practical, not academic: a column of formula-driven cells that legitimately return "" when there's nothing to show will read as 100% missing under COUNTBLANK, even though every formula is working exactly as intended — and a column that “looks” complete because every cell has a value can still be functionally empty if those values are stray spaces.

Checking a column properly

To find truly empty cells only, use COUNTA() to count non-empty cells and subtract from the total row count, or use ISBLANK() in a helper column. To catch space-only entries too, use =SUMPRODUCT(--(TRIM(A2:A1000)="")), which catches empty cells, whitespace-only cells, and formula results of "" all in one pass, treating them consistently as missing.

Doing this across every column at once

Checking column by column with formulas doesn't scale to a wide spreadsheet. Upload your file below to get a per-column breakdown of null/missing counts, alongside unique value counts and data types, computed consistently across every column and every sheet in one pass.