Skip to main content

Kutools for Office ā€” One Suite. Five Tools. Get More Done.

How to find the nth non blank cell in Excel?

Author Xiaoyang Last modified

How could you find and return the nth non blank cell value from a column or a row in Excel? In this article, I will discuss some useful formulas to help you solve this task.

Find and return the nth non blank cell value from a column with formula

Find and return the nth non blank cell value from a row with formula

arrow blue right bubble Find and return the nth non blank cell value from a column with formula

For example, I have a column of data as following screenshot shown, now, I will get the third non blank cell value from this list.

A screenshot of a column in Excel to find the third non-blank cell

Please enter this formula: =INDEX($A$1:$A$25,SMALL(ROW($A$1:$A$25)+(100*($A$1:$A$25="")), 3))&"" into a blank cell where you want to output the result, D2, for example, and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together to get the correct result, see screenshot:

A screenshot showing the result of using a formula to find the third non-blank cell in a column

Note: In above formula, A1:A25 is the data list that you want to use, and the number 3 indicates the third non-blank cell value you want to return. If you want to get the second non-blank cell, simply change the number 3 to 2 as needed.

arrow blue right bubble Find and return the nth non blank cell value from a row with formula

If you want to find and return the nth non blank cell value in a row, the following formula may help you, please do as this:

Enter this formula: =INDEX($A$1:$M$1,SMALL(IF($A$1:$M$1<>"",COLUMN($A$1:$M$1)-COLUMN($A$1)+1),4)) into a blank cell where you want to locate the result, and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together to get the result, see screenshot:

A screenshot showing the result of using a formula to find the fourth non-blank cell in a row

Note: In above formula, A1:M1 is the row values that you want to use, and the number 4 indicates the fourth non-blank cell value you want to return. If you want to get the second non-blank cell, simply change the number 4 to 2 as needed.

Best Office Productivity Tools

šŸ¤– Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functionsā€¦
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup  |   Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar   |  Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells   |  Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets:  12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more
Use Kutools in your preferred language ā€“ supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...

Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!

All Kutools add-ins. One installer

Kutools for Office suite bundles add-ins for Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint plus Office Tab Pro, which is ideal for teams working across Office apps.

Excel Word Outlook Tabs PowerPoint
  • All-in-one suite ā€” Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint add-ins + Office Tab Pro
  • One installer, one license ā€” set up in minutes (MSI-ready)
  • Works better together ā€” streamlined productivity across Office apps
  • 30-day full-featured trial ā€” no registration, no credit card
  • Best value ā€” save vs buying individual add-in