Comments on: How to change the row color based on a cell value in Excel

Learn how to quickly change the color of the entire row based on a single cell's value in your Excel worksheets. Tips and formula examples for number and text values. Continue reading →

Comments page 17. Total comments: 546

  1. Hi Svetlana

    I am trying to make an entire row red when there is one or more #N/A errors. I have used =ISERROR(A1)and selected the range as =$A$1:$AI$16 but it only makes the cells with #N/A in them red not the whole row.

    Please can you help?

    Thanks
    Helen

  2. Hi Son Pratap,

    In your case, you need to select the whole table and create a conditional formatting rule of the type "Format only cells that contain". Then under "Format only cells with", choose the following options: Cell value, equal to, A. You can find the detailed information on how to do this in my other article: How to change background color in Excel based on cell value. Hope this helps.

  3. Hi Svetlana,

    I want to make a sheet which contains only words A,U,P,EL. The condition is when I type A in any cell of the table the background of that perticular cell should change automatically to yellow. and when I type P in any cell then background should change to green like by typing other words they should also change the colour of backgound of any cell in same table.

    Thanks
    Son Pratap

  4. Hi Alan,

    The only solution that I can come up with is using the =AND formula like this =AND($A2"", $B2"", $C2"", $D2"", $E2"")
    It works fine if a table has only a few columns, but this may not be the best approach if you have a large table because as you understand, you would need to list all the columns in the formula. Regrettably, I cannot suggest any better alternative.

  5. Hi Svetlana,

    Was wondering if you could help me please. I have a table made up and i am wanting to highlight an entire row, only when all the cells in that row have information of any kind(text or numbers)in them. So the row would stay unhighlighted if any of the cells were left blank. Basically the entire row would highlight automatically when all cells are complete.

    Many thanks

    Allan

  6. Hi Tatumrs,

    I tested that formula on a table that pulls data from another sheet using a CONCATENATE formula similar to yours, and it worked properly. In fact, it does not really matter whether you enter a value directly in a cell or pull it from another location. This formula (=$E4="x") is very simple and should work anyway, unless you have some specific data format, e.g. dates. Anyway, it's hard to say why it does not work for you without seeing your real data.

  7. Line 26, 27, and 28.

    I attmepted to place the formula you suggested in the conditional formating and it is not working. Any other ideas?

    Ex. I am wanting cell B4 to highlight if cell E4 has "x".

    However, The data is cell E4 is pulled from a different location based on the formula =CONCATENATE(U7G!E8," ")

    Thanks for your help.

  8. Success! Thank you very much!

  9. Hi Chris,

    Try selecting the whole table and then create the formatting rule with this formula =$J2<>"" (assuming that your table has headers). It will color all the rows that have any value in column J. Hope this is what you are looking for.

  10. Hi Svetlana,

    Sorry to trouble you, but I cannot make this work for a date!

    I have one column (J) which is "date of sale". This only has a value if a sale has been made. So, I want to highlight all the rows which have a date in column J (essentially highlighting all the rows where I have made a sale, and leaving the ones where the sale has not been closed blank)

    Can you help?

    Thanks!

  11. Hi Tatumrs,

    I think you can select the entire column B and create the conditional formatting rule based on this formula =$E1="x" (or =$E2="x" if your table has headers).

    1. Hi Svetlana,

      How to colour a row where text mentioned in Column A2 to E2= "Yes".
      But if any of the cell is "No" then that row should not get highlighted.

      A B C D E
      Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
      Yes Yes No No Yes

      Regards,
      Rajnish

      1. Hi Rajnish,

        You can select all the rows you want to highlight and create a rule with the following formula:

        =COUNTIF($A2:$E2, "yes")=5

  12. column e text is also pulled from the other tabs based on the same formula

  13. I am working a spreadsheet that contains several tabs or worksheets. The summary page is pulling information from the other tabs based on the formula =CONCATENATE(U7B!E91," ")

    Now, on my summary page, I am wanting to change the color of a cell in column b if a text in column e is "x". Column b is a name gathered off the above listed formula and column e represents if they are a pool player

    Thanks for the help

  14. Hi Byte,

    As far as understand you output the days of the week in some custom format similar to "ddd" format that displays Mon, Tue etc. If so, then you can create a conditional rule based on this formula:
    =OR((text(A1,"ddd")="Sat"),(text(A1,"ddd")="Sun"))=TRUE
    where A in the name of the column where your =DATUM formula is used.

    You will only need to change "Sat" and "Sun" exactly to the text that your formula returns, replace "ddd" with your cell format, and use the analogs of "OR" and other operators in your language (German, right?).

    1. Hi Svetlana,

      This is almost exactly the same problem I'm having. And the formula you post works but only partially. When I type the formula you list above, It only colors 2 of my cells. No cells are hidden and when I tried it in a brand new sheet using the same formulas only one cell on that sheet changes color. What am I doing wrong? I am only using the first part of the formula you posted because I only need to color cells in the row containing Sunday. This is what I put in the formula box in Conditional Formatting: =OR((text(A6,"dddd")="Sunday"))=TRUE

      Thank you for your help!
      Tara

      1. Oh and I'm using =WEEKDAY(A1) in my A6 not =DATUM. It took me a long time to figure out the Weekday formula, I'll be really bummed if I have to change it. =/

    2. Hi Svetlana,

      I've tried your formula but unfortunately it doesn't function. I've tried to change some settings of the formula (like MS Office 2010 doesn't like = before OR command or other commands.) I've tried some other things, but no result. I have changed the name of the days as you had mentioned, from Sat to za en from Sun to zo. These are the short names of the week days in Dutch. Do you have another solution for this. If you want, then I can send you the Excel file.

      Kind regards and thanks in advance,
      Byte

      1. Hi Byte,

        Yes, please send your workbook to us at support@ablebits.com and we will try to figure this our (please add Att: Svetlana to the subject).

        BTW, =OR worked well in my Excel 2010, English localization.

  15. Hi Svetlana,

    I have a little problem with an Excel sheet which is made by someone else who left the company. According to a formula =DATUM(D$3;SOM(C$43:O$43);B7)is the day of the month set in the cell like mo tu we th fr sa su. Wheneve I change the year the days of the month changed automatically. What I want to do is color the row of sa and su but all what you memntioned above couldn't help me. How can I realise this?

    If it is not possible, is there then another way to set the days of the month sothat I can change the color of the row of weekend by a formula or else?

    Kind regards,
    Byte

  16. Hi Sumesh,

    If my understanding is correct, you need to change the font of 3 and 4 in your example. If so, select the entire first column (say, column A) and create the conditional formatting rule based on this formula =ISERROR(MATCH(A1,$B$1:$B$10000,0))=FALSE

    After that select the second column e.g. column B (it's very important to select the entire column, so that your rule will apply to =$B:$B) and enter this formula =ISERROR(MATCH(B1,$A$1:$A$10000,0))=FALSE

    Choose the needed font color for both rules and enjoy the result : )

  17. Hi

    I would like to know how to change the color of font if in 2 colum numbers are same but not in sequence ?

    If in colum A there is number like., 1,2,3,4,5 & If I type 3 & 4 in next colum like below. So can I change font color of same numbers? and How using formula?

    E.g.

    A B
    1 4
    2 3
    3
    4
    5

  18. Hello Svetlana,

    Thanks for your kind answer, I will try to find out more.

  19. Hello Kevin,

    If I understand your task correctly, you need to color a part of the text in a cell, i.e. "2013 year". Unfortunately this cannot be done either with conditional formatting or Excel formulas because they apply to the entire content of a cell. Probably, this can be done using VBA, but I don't know for sure. Sorry for not being able to help with this : (

    If you are looking for something different, please send us a sample workbook so that we can understand your task better and we will try to figure out a solution.

  20. Hello,

    I will try it, thank you very much,

  21. Hello Svetlana,

    I would like to know how to make one colour word in a formula which the word is refered from another sheet.

    [Example]

    The "2013 year" is at "B7" cell in "A" sheet.
    and I 'd like to use a formula on "B" sheet.
    So, hope to make this "The great idea id from 2013 year !!" words in the "B" sheet.
    But only "2013 year" is in red.
    Because, I will use the words for every year, only change "A" sheet.
    And do not miss the changed word for confirmation. So hope to make it coloured.

    The conditional formatting can not be accepted, but if it accepted a word without formula. I have tried.

    Please let me out of this question.
    Thank you!

    1. I want the cell in column L to be highlighted yellow if any cell in that row says "Holiday Inn"

      Thanks!

      1. Select column L, from L2 till the end of the data, and create a conditional formatting rule using this formula:
        =CountIf($A2:$P2, "Holiday Inn")>0

        Where P is the last column in your table.

  22. Hello Alina,

    I think you can add an additional column to your table and copy the following formula across that column:
    =IF(B2>=DATE(YEAR(NOW()),MONTH(NOW()),DAY(NOW())),IF(C2="", 1, 0), 0)
    Where B is your Delivery column and C is the Invoice column. If the date is greater than or equal to now and there is no number in the Invoice column, the formula returns 1, in all other cases it's 0. After that you create a simple conditional formatting rule for the Invoice column with a formula like this: =$D2=1 where D is the additional column. Hope this helps.

  23. Hi Parameswar,

    I am glad you've found it helpful. Thank you for your comment!

  24. Hi Svetlana,

    This is a very good post. It helped me to achive my formating I wanted.

    Thnks a lot.

  25. Hello,

    I need your help :). In my excel I have a column with "delivery date" and one with "Invoice". I would like to know the formula to colour the Invoice column when the delivery date is equal and grater than today BUT in the same time when I will enter the invoice number, the colour will dissapear (or be default).

    Thank you!

  26. Hi Rohit,

    Select your table without headers and create a new rule as described in Changing the row’s color based on a number in a single cell. In your rule, use this formula =$B2="Expired", where B is your Remarks columns. I've just tried this on my test table and it worked just fine, all rows containing the text "Expired" in the "Remark" column got colored. Hope this helps.

  27. I did not understand(although i applied rules)...
    here my problem...
    i have two coloums - 'Name' and 'Remarks'.
    i want to change the cell colour of all the cell in the column "Name" if the "Remark" column contains text "Expired" ..
    PLEASE provide me solution, better main me.

  28. I want to change the color a cell,say A1 when the count of a particular text in other cells Say A2 to A3 (which are in same row ) changes.

    Say, if the count is less than 2, the color of A1 is red, when more than 2, should be green, and greater than 5, should be blue.

    Thanks,
    Manoj

    1. Hi Manoj,

      This was a challenge!

      If I understand your task right, you need to change the background color of a cell in Column A depending on how many times a particular text is found in a specified range of cells.

      If so, you can use the following formulas to count "FindMe" text in a specified range (columns B, C, D in each row).

      =((LEN($B2&$C2&$D2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LOWER($B2&$C2&$D2),LOWER("FindMe"),"")))/LEN("FindMe"))>=5

      =((LEN($B2&$C2&$D2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LOWER($B2&$C2&$D2),LOWER("FindMe"),"")))/LEN("FindMe"))>=2

      =((LEN($B2&$C2&$D2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LOWER($B2&$C2&$D2),LOWER("FindMe"),"")))/LEN("FindMe"))>=1

      In theory, you can use the above formulas with conditional formatting, as described in this article. However, I'd strongly advise to create an additional column and copy the formula

      =((LEN($B2&$C2&$D2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LOWER($B2&$C2&$D2),LOWER("FindMe"),"")))/LEN("FindMe"))

      across that new column to count the "FindMe" instances. Then you can create conditional formatting rules based on the number in this column.

      Instead of "FindMe”, you can add a reference to the cell containing the needed text.

      Click here to download a sample workbook.

      Sheet 1 contains a complex formula to color Column A using Condtional Formatting.
      Sheet 2 is an example of Condtional Formatting using the helper column.

  29. Hi Charlie,

    Thank you very much! It's always a pleasure to get such comments :)

  30. Hi Svetlana,

    Just wanted to say thanks for this, it was really useful and helped me achieve exactly what I wanted.

    Many Thanks,

    Charlie

  31. Hello John,

    I think you can use the conditional formatting as demonstrated in this article, and copy one of the following formulas across the column in which you will enter specific text, where A is the name of your column:

    For exact match: =$A1="your text"
    For partial match: =SEARCH("your text", $A1)>0

    You can find more details here.

    If you need something different, please clarify. Thank you for your comment!

    1. Hi Svetlana Cheusheva,

      What if i wanted to highlight the row whenever there is different text across same column. In my excel i have more than 50 portfolio name and i wanted to highlight each portfolio name with one colour. For this formula," =SEARCH("your text", $A1)>0", "your text" is hard coded , any way to make this a variant?Thanks for you help!

  32. Oh and I'm currently using Excel 2010 on Google Drive..

  33. Hello Svetlana Cheusheva, how are you?

    I wanted to ask if the question that was posted on November 28, 2013 is similar to my question.

    I wanted to ask how to automatically highlight an entire row after entering specific text in a single cell within that row?

    Please respond at your earliest convenience.

    Thanks, John Lyons.

  34. Thank you very much for such easy tips. Hardly took 10 mins opposed to writing magic VB scripts for days ;)

  35. Hi Akshaya,

    Using Excel formulas, it is not possible to substitute values in the original cells with data. However, you can create an empty column next to the column that contains the values you want to change and copy the following formula all across that newly added column: =IFERROR(IF(FIND("analytics",A1) > 0, "magic"), "_") where A is the name of the column with your original data.

  36. please anybody comment here..

  37. my question is
    suppose i have a data like this

    sas analytics developer
    visual analytics using macro
    msexcel is a spreadsheet program

    Condition-:
    Those values are containing "analytics" then change to "magic"
    otherwise value should be "_".

    Using Excel formulas...

    1. It is possible
      Instead of condition formatting, simple If statement is to be used

    2. Hi, I have a drop down box that changes sets of data in my array. It shifts between two sets of data depending on what's selected in the drop down box. I want one set of data to have one format and the other set of data to have a different format. When I use conditional formating, and I change the set of data once, the format changes correctly. However, when I change the data set back the format does not revert back to what it was originally. It is forever stuck in the new format.

      Is it possible to do this with conditional formatting?

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