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Airtable IF Blank vs Not Blank: Simple Patterns That Work

FE
Filla Editorial•beginner•Oct 28, 2025

The question: how do I check if a field is blank?

You want a formula that uses a value when it exists and falls back when it does not. The cleanest pattern in Airtable is to test the field directly for the non‑blank case.

Key patterns

  • Check not blank
IF({Field Name}, "value if present", "value if blank")
  • Check blank (explicit)
IF(NOT({Field Name}), "value if blank", "value if present")

Tip: testing {Field Name} directly is the simplest way to detect “has something”.

Practical example: imported vs created time

Goal: show an imported timestamp when available, otherwise show your fallback field.

IF({Original Time Stamp}, {Original Time Stamp}, {Time Stamp})

Notes:

  • Field references are not quoted. Quoting turns them into literal strings.
  • If you truly want a literal string as the fallback, wrap only the fallback in quotes.
IF({Original Time Stamp}, {Original Time Stamp}, "No timestamp")

Formatting dates cleanly

If you mix raw date values with already formatted text, your output will be inconsistent. Format the date part explicitly with DATETIME_FORMAT.

IF(
  {Original Time Stamp},
  DATETIME_FORMAT({Original Time Stamp}, "M/DD/YYYY h:mm A"),
  DATETIME_FORMAT({Time Stamp}, "M/DD/YYYY h:mm A")
)

Alternative: if {Time Stamp} is not a date, format only the original and keep the fallback as text.

IF(
  {Original Time Stamp},
  DATETIME_FORMAT({Original Time Stamp}, "M/DD/YYYY h:mm A"),
  {Time Stamp}
)

Quick reference

Goal Formula
Non‑blank first, fallback if blank IF({Field}, {Field}, {Fallback})
Explicit blank check IF(NOT({Field}), {Fallback}, {Field})
Format a date when present IF({Date}, DATETIME_FORMAT({Date}, "M/DD/YYYY h:mm A"), "n/a")

Common pitfalls

  • Quoting field names: {Field} is correct, "{Field}" is literal text
  • Mixing raw dates with formatted strings in the same output
  • Forgetting to format the date after using SET_TIMEZONE (see choosing time zones for date functions)

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Further reading