Okay I'm putting together a tracking report, which is a fairly simple table with client names going down the first column, and documents they need to submit going across the first row. Then I'll be inputting the date the document is received into the corresponding box.

I want to format the table such that any blank cells are shaded, but they become unshaded automatically if anything is typed into the cell. Is there a way to do this? I know with conditional formatting you can ask for it to format the cell if the cell value is greater than or equal to, etc. a particular value, but how do I set that value as NOTHING? It's not zero, it's not a space, it's nothing at all.

Is this even possible?

 

Why not do it the other way.

Use cell shading to make all the cells shaded, then use conditional formatting to change them if there is a value in them.

 

Okay that works, too, but how do I set the value as "anything other than nothing"?

 

Have you tried this?
Click Format...Conditional Formatting ... and then enter:
Cell Value is equal to =""

 

Figured it out; duh, dates are handled as numbers in Excel, so I just set it so that if the value is less than or equal to "0", the box is shaded.