Comments on: Excel conditional formatting formulas based on another cell

This tutorial explains how to use Excel formulas to format cells and entire rows based on the values you specify or based on another cell's value, and provides a handful of formula examples. Continue reading →

Comments page 13. Total comments: 1735

  1. Hello,

    Is it possible to use IF OR and Other conditions in Pivot Calculation field?
    Example: i have pivot with country[ US, UK, China, India, Kenya] in column 'B' and Transactions in column 'C', Sales in Column 'd'. Now my question - if the column value is US i want to have the Transaction value in column 'E', if its UK, then i need Sales value in same column 'e', if Kenya, then i need Transaction Value.

    kindly suggest.

  2. Hi dear,
    I want col H to be red fill as well as showing the text Defaulter
    1)if col E(completion date of course) is passed and the col F (remaining fee) is still to be paid i.e >0
    2) if col E(completion date) is passed and the col F=0 then I want green fill and showing text Clear
    3) if Cole E(completion date) is not over which means the course still is in progress and col F>0 then I want orange file showing text "Ask for the Fee".
    Any help will be highly appreciated
    Thanks in advance

    1. Can any1 like to add?

      1. I finally got my answer by reading your if & and/or topic and now want little bit more complexity in it.

        =IF(AND(E70),"Defaulter",IF(AND(E7TODAY(),Q7>0),"Ask for fee","")))

        Thanks

  3. i want to get the highlighted cells(which were highlighed by conditional formating)to a seperate column using a formular.not using filtering option

    Thanks

  4. I need to highlight the similar text in different collumn.Please give me a commands.
    For example
    A-column B-column
    TXP 1_TXP
    1_TXP-1
    1_TXP-2
    1_TXP_TCH
    Then i need highlight b collumn all text

  5. Hi,
    I want to highlight a cell containing a alphanumeric based on multiple references
    Ex:If any cell contains BMR01 or BMR02 and goes on it has to get highlighted.

    Tnks in advance

    1. tell me how to take multiple references

      1. Hello Rajesh!
        It depends on what rules are used to create an alpha numeric code.
        For example, you can fulfill your task using the following formula in a conditional formatting rule:
        =AND(LEFT(A1,4)="BMR0",IFERROR(VALUE(MID(A1,5,1)) < 3,FALSE))

  6. Hi,
    I would like to implement conditional formatting based on the items chosen from a drop down list. So if items "A" or "B" or "C" of the list are selected the color of the cell change, if items "D" or "E" or "F" of the list are selected the color remains the same.
    I am using excel 2007 for Mac so no VBA option. thanks for your help

  7. Dear All,

    if there a 2 pages first 1 page contain all the details of the employees salary as per field. At the same time in 2 page fimo recovery was tallied at the one branch if it is tallied all the related column should be colored in 1st & 2 page

    please suggest thanking you

  8. Hello, i would like to change the colour of a number of cells in a row if column P contains any text, however the colour it changes to depends on the text in column D would you please be able to help
    many thanks.

    1. Hello Charlotte!
      You need to create different rules: one for each colour and text condition. For example:
      yellow color - =AND(NOT(ISBLANK(P1)),D1="text1");
      orange color - =AND(NOT(ISBLANK(P1)),D1="text2") etc.

  9. Hi Svetlana,
    I'm working in an Excel file where alphabetical values (student grades) are recorded on Sheet 1 and these grades are stored as numerical values on Sheet 2 (using VLookup). I'm wanting to conditionally format the grades on Sheet 1 based on their numerical value on Sheet 2 (if the grade in one exam is higher than their predicted grade, colour it green, for example). This is working fine for the first column. I'm using absolute column and relative row references and this works for the first column ((='Sheet2'!$F6>='Sheet2'!$D6) applied to =$F$6:$F$47 on Sheet 1.)
    As there are a lot of columns (none-consecutive, ie the grades are in columns F, H, J on Sheet 1 and their numerical values in F,H & J on Sheet 2) to add this formatting to, I've tried to apply it to the other columns on Sheet 1 using 'Applies to =$F$6:$F$47, $H$6:$H$47' etc. However, this doesn't work for the second column, and colours the cells seemingly at random.
    Please can you tell me how I'd fix this?
    Thank you ever so much.

  10. How do you tell there was a First Expired First Out (FEFO) breach.
    I have this very large data and am trying to determine if a product with a later (greater) BB date is posted before one with an earlier (less) BB date on excel. The BB dates are in a column while the posting date is in another column
    I have been doing this manually and will like to have a formula that is faster.
    I'll appreciate your assistance

  11. Hi. My dates are customised as ddd dd mmm yy (so today is Tue 15 Mar 16). I can't get CF to turn today red using today(), even though Excel knows that the cell is actually 15/03/2016. Can I do this another way?

    1. Hello SeeBee!
      Please select the entire column (for example D) and create a conditional formatting rule using the following formula: =D1=TODAY()

  12. How to format a range of cell bases on a list of values (range of values). Ex. I have a lis of available answers: A, B, C, D ..., Z. So, whenever a user writes an answer not part of the list, the cell is formatted into red color (for ex).
    I tried to use the formula: =$C2AcceptedValues
    where AcceptedValues is the range name of the accepted values. But for whatever reason it's not working. Any suggestions? What do I do wrong? Thanks.

    1. =$C2AcceptedValues ($C2 not equal to AcceptedValues)

  13. how to Rectify Circular reference error

  14. i have a 2sheet in single file one of the name is daily and 2nd is weekly i want to highlight colour or sign row when 1sheet value is greater than 2sheet

  15. I want to fill cells with a color if they contain an letter and number but the number isn't the same in every case. How do I set this rule?

  16. hi I have found your tutorials brilliant, but as a newbe to excel ,please help with this one.
    two lists each contain names ie joe blogs mary smith.
    I want to search the first list for a name from the second list and if found I wish to change a number in another cell,and so on all the way through from the second list looking in the first.ive tried the if function but I don't know how to deal with text?

  17. Hello,

    I have another question regarding conditional formatting...

    My scenario is:

    In Column A, I have a numerical value entered (ex: 6.0625).
    In Column B, I have another numerical value entered (ex: 8.60).

    I need to format all the cells is Column A, if they do not have a value within a certain decimal point numerical range of the value in Column B.

    For example, in cell A1, the value is 6.0625, and in cell B1, the value is 8.60. I would want the cell in A1 to highlight red because it does not fall within a +/- 0.25 range. What formula can I use to format all of Column A this way. Take into consideration that not all of the numerical values in Column B are the same. So the comparison will need to be for each row between those two columns.

    Thanks in advance!

  18. Hi,

    I am trying to figure out how to edit a drop down menu for a spread sheet at work. I am trying to edit "Contact Names of sales reps" to include both their personal e-mail and phone number like the other original ones were formatted to do; So that when you click on their name in the drop down menu, it includes their contact info from the 2 other columns to the right of each sales rep. How do I enable that or edit to create that?~

  19. I have a spreadsheet consisting of 8 columns and 8 rows. The first column and row is B10. B10 thru B17 has a drop down list in each row which is the same list. The list consists of a series of 3 number a space and 3 more numbers. I have a conditional format in C10-I10 and the other columns and rows follow suit. The formula is =AND(123456=$B$10)=TRUE then change the font to RED with Parenthesis. The formula works in B10 if I type in 123456 but will not work if I have the drop down list and chose 123456 from the list. Any help would be appreciated.

  20. Hi...

    I was wondering if I enter a text in a row then that text should determine the value in anorher row automatically. Is there any formula regarding this.

    Eg...

    If I enter abc text in row C4 then row D4 value should 10 automatically.

    Waiting for help...

  21. Is there a way to highlight a cell on a sheet if the number in it is also in a list on another sheet?
    I have a list of numbers on sheet 1 starting at B2 working down the column (B2,B3,B4,....) then on sheet 2 I would be inputting numbers and would like the cell to change color if the number entered matches any of the numbers in the list from sheet 1.

  22. I use conditional formatting to change the color of the cell from green for good to red for bad, works good. My boss just asked me to modify this to put the conditional formatted color into another cell. So what he wants will look like this, cell A5 has conditional formatting that will turn green or red depending on the text value and on the same page cell AW83 will turn the same color as cell A5. I need help with the last part cell AW83 working

    1. forgot to mention cell AW83 has a numeric value that needs to remain after the cell changes color thanks

      1. Hello Mike,

        The easiest way to go would be creating the same rules for AW83 that you have for cell A5.

        Otherwise you will need to add a user-defined function to your file as there is no function in Excel that checks colors. The following blog post describes the steps to get our GetCellColor function:
        https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/count-sum-by-color-excel/#count-cells-color

        You need to copy just the first function from the code in the post.

        Then you can use this function to get the color code from A5 in another cell, e.g. enter =GetCellColor(A5). Finally, you'll need to create a conditional formatting rule for AW83 and use the following type of formula in it:
        =GetCellColor($A$5)=5287936

        5287936 is the color code you need to replace with the code of green or red color you may have in A5.

  23. Hello,

    If the cells in the column have negative and positive value (ex. A1 = -1, A2 = 9), how can I create a formula to fill cell with red color if negative value and green if positive value?

    Thanks,

    1. Hello Tim,

      You need to create two conditional formatting rules: one for each color.

      You can use this simple formula for positive numbers to fill with green color:
      =$A1>=0
      Here is a formula for negative numbers with red fill format:
      =$A1<0

  24. Hi Sako,

    How exactly is the date range defined in sheet2? Is it 2 cells with the start date and end date?

  25. how do i color a cell if the date in worksheet 1 equals to a date in a date range in worksheet 2?

  26. Hello-

    New to "Advanced" excel. On Sheet 1 I have a sheet that I am importing numbers in from another excel document. It's for fitness testing. So there's different tests in A10 A11 A12, etc. Then in B10, B11, B12, etc there's the results. In sheet 2 I have the normative values. So in column A I have the test In Column B I have the low values for the 60-65 year group. In Column C I have the high values for the 60-65 year group (B1 and C1 are merged and say "60-65"). Then In Column D low values for 65-69, Column E high values for 65-69, etc.

    I'm trying to get it so that on sheet 1 it will read their results and then if it's below the low value (Column B) for their age, turn red. If it's within the low value (Column B) and high value (Column C), then turn green, and if it's above the high value (Column C), turn blue.

    First- I can't get it so that it will read the age in one box and then decide which 2 columns it should read from.

    Second- Even if I try to change the formatting of the cell by manually click on the individual cells that it should compare to, still no colors change.

    Anyone have any ideas or know any good resources?

    Thanks!

  27. Hello, I'm not sure if this is even possible with Excel.
    I want to change the colour of a cell based on whether another cell is SELECTED.

    E.g. If any cell in Row 1 is selected then cell A1 should turn grey.
    If any cell in Row 2 is selected then cell B1 should turn grey, etc

    Thanks

  28. Hello,

    I am trying to make cell, for example, A4, be filled blue if in cell I4 it says "RCT".

    I've managed to do this for single cells but selecting the cells in question. However I have attempted to apply this to the whole column so that any cell in column A turns blue if cell in columnn I of the the same row says "RCT", however I've been unsuccessful.

    The rule which I Have used says
    =$I$2:$I$49="RCT"

    which applies to
    =$A$2:$A$49

    Can anyone explain why this isn't working at all??

    Thanks a lot,

    Freya

    1. Hello Freya,

      Please select the entire column I and create a conditional formatting rule using the following formula:
      =$I2=$A2
      Excel will automatically change it to =$I3=$A3 for line 3, and so on.

  29. I have a spreadsheet that in one column (P) has a list of temporary badge numbers in it; then in column A I insert and assign one of the badge numbers from column P to a person. What I would like to have happen would be when I insert one of the badge numbers from column P in column A the corresponding badge number in column P would automatically highlight. That way I can tell at a glance which badge numbers have already been used and which have not. I have not been able to figure out how to get this to happen, your assistance would be appreciated. Thank you

    1. Hello Ceci,

      Please select column P and create a rule that uses a formula to highlight the cells:
      =Countif($1A$1:$A1000,$P1)>0

      Here P1 is the first selected cell, $1A$1:$A1000 is the range you use to assign the numbers.

  30. I am selecting a font color for cells in the first three columns of a range when the value in column H is greater than 0. So, if H1 is greater than zero, I want A1, B1 and C1 to be in red font. If H2 is greater than zero, I want A2, B2, and C2 to be red font, and so on. I thought I had it working, but what happens in a list of say 40 rows where 10 meet the criteria, the 8 of the entries in column A turn red, but two do not. Maybe half the entries in column B turn red, none of column C turn red. The rule seems to indicate out to column C (it is a number where the others are texts so that may be the problem with C). I don't understand how it formats some and not others. thank you

  31. Hi, I have a spread sheet to calculate when major plant items are due for replacement (year purchased (2000) + expected life in years (10) = Year of disposal (2010), very basic (cells formatted as numbers). In a single cell I have the current financial year i.e. 2016 (number format), I would like to conditional format any year that is equal & prior too 2016 red, and any year greater than 2016 (i.e. 2017) green.

    1. Hello Dave,

      Please select the column with dates and create two rules that use formulas. One rule to highlight earlier years in red:
      =B2<=2016
      The second rule for highlighting later years in green:
      =B2>2016
      Here B2 is the first selected cell.

  32. Hi,

    I am using conditional formatting to display blanks and to make it easier for team members filtered on their names and recorded macros with short cuts so as to save time.

    However when I reuse the shortcuts instead of displaying cells with blanks it is higlighting the whole rows which contain blanks.How do I solve this.

    Also I am unable to go back to original sheet after using macro shortcuts. Temporarily I created another macro which removes all the rules but is there any other way.

    Regards,
    Sharon Dev

  33. Hi, Could you clarify how to fill a Gender field of a table in excel work sheet? for a example if male:M,if Female:F

  34. Thank you for sharing. Is there a way to highlight my "b" column if my "a" column has a date past today's date (today())? thanks.

    1. Hi Yer,

      Try creating a rule for column B with this formula: =$A2>Today()

  35. Great Article..
    I have a set of data with -ve and +ve values. I just need to highlight the least -ve value and least +ve value
    Ex: -20, -15, -8, 1, 3, 6, 15 . In this case only -8 and 1 needs to be highlighted with different colors. can you please help with any formula for this?

  36. Hi all, I have 2 columns each have a date. Column (1)being a test date and column (2) being a set date 7 days after the test date, for reoccurrence of the test. I need to format so that column (2) has to actions.

    1. it turns orange when it is 5ays from its next test.
    2. it turns red when it runs over the due date.

    any help would be appreciated.

    1. Hi Darren,

      If we understand your task correctly, you can do this by creating two conditional formatting rules:
      1) To color cells red when the date in column 2 is the current date or earlier:
      =$B2<=TODAY()
      2) To color cells orange when there are 5 days left to the test date:
      =AND($B2-TODAY()>0,$B2-TODAY()<=5)

  37. JANUARY 2016
    Week Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat
    1 2
    1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    2 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
    3 17 18 19 20 21 23 23
    4 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    5 31
    I made this calendar manualy and I want to highlight the number date automatically and link to Friday, January 1, 2016 (=Today())on the other row. Can you please give an answer

    thanks

    ronald

    1. Hello Ronald,

      If your task is to highlight the current date, you can use the following formula in your conditional formatting rule:
      =IF(ISBLANK(B9),FALSE,DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),2,B9)=TODAY())

      This rule will work for February. You will need to change the month number for each month, e.g. replace "2" with "3" in the formula for March.

      As for linking it to January 1, could you please clarify your task? What way do you want to link the dates?

  38. Hi Svetlana, I have been wrestling with this problem for a while and I am completely stumped.

    I have a spreadsheet which uses a formula (=INDEX('TMA Tracking'!K:K,MATCH(HelpSheet!$D$5,'TMA Tracking'!A:A,0))), in order to pull data off other multiple sheets within the workbook and display all the data in one place on one page (based on a key field common to all spreadsheets).

    My issue is that sometimes there is a null value that the formula is trying to retrieve and, so for a date for example, it displays 1900-01-00. I would like to highlight the result, but the conditional formatting in the cell only looks at the INDEX formula and not the resultant data that it displays.

    How do I fix that? Thanks so much in advance!

    1. Hello Mark,

      Conditional formatting rules look at the values in the range. If there is no date, your formula returns number 0 (the number of days starting from 01/01/1900) that is displayed in the date format. If you are trying to find such dates in your range, please replace the date 1900-01-00 with 0 in your conditional formatting rule.

      If your task is different, please describe it in more detail and share the formula you use in your rule.

      We'll do our best to assist you.

  39. I have a row with 5 columns and each cell in the 5 columns have numbers in them. I have another column with serialized numbered rows (1-50) and want to color the cell's background only if a number in this column matches any of he 5 numbers in the row (described at the beginning of this problem). How to write the conditional rule(s)?

    Spa-see-ba

    1. Hello George,

      You can use the following formula with your conditional formatting rule:
      =IF(ISNA(MATCH(A3,B3:F3,0)),FALSE,TRUE)

      We hope this helps!

  40. How can I compare two e.g. a1:d1 with f1:i1 please need urgently

    1. Hello,

      If you are trying to find complete row matches, you can use our Duplicate Remover add-in:
      https://www.ablebits.com/excel-suite/find-remove-duplicates.php

      Click on the Compare Two Tables icon, select A1:D1 (or as many rows as needed) as your first table, and F1:I1 as your second table, choose the necessary key columns for comparison and the action for the results, e.g. you can highlight all matching rows in your main table.

  41. I am using conditional formatting quite extensively on a work plan template. I have set up for different sections to format according to about 7 or 8 exclusively alternate options.
    However, I don't understand why the applicable ranges for the formats seem to adjust themselves without prompt, splitting out across separate ranges. I have tried to remedy this by displaying the format list to show 'This sheet' and reducing each rule to just one appearance, so it shows one (comprehensive)range per rule. However, it soon changes itself again! I have tried playing around with the $s too and can't get it to stick.

    To add to that, I now have a problem that when you insert a row within one of the conditionally formatted ranges, it automatically adjusts the first choice format (no format for blanks). It changes it so that it no longer applies to any rows previous to, and including, the new one. So, where the format range might have been set as $F$1:$U$80, if you add a row at row 6, all of a sudden the first choice formula becomes $F$7:$U$80.

    Where am I going wrong??

    Many thanks.

    1. Hello Jo,

      Please try to convert your data to a table in Excel (Ctrl+T), it may help with different issues, such as when a range of data gets broken.

  42. Hi Svetlana,

    i am trying to do conditional formatting on multiple cells. For example, in row B i have 100 values, in row C i have another 100 values - i want to format the cells so that if the value in Row C is over the the value in Row B it will highlight green, and if the value is lower it will highlight in red. The problem i have is i can do this for individual cells but i've tried so many formulas and just can't seem to get it right for multiple cells.

    Please please help!

    Many thanks and kindest regards in advance

    Jamie

    1. Hi Jamie,

      Most likely you have absolute references in your conditional formatting rules. To compare values in each row, select the cells you want to format and add two rules with an absolute column and a relative row reference, e.g.
      =$C3>$B3

      You can find more information about the difference between relative and absolute cell references here:
      https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/relative-absolute-cell-references-excel-conditional-formatting/

    2. Hi, I am facing a similar issue as Jamie has stated. I need to check the values of cells in Row 2 and color code corresponding cells in Row 5. Individual formulas for each cell work, but I am unable to extend formatting collectively over a range.

      Please help.

      Best Regards
      Sreeram R

      1. Hi Sreeram,

        Similarly, please make sure you use absolute row references in your formulas, i.e. put a dollar sign before the row number so that it is not changed: C$5.

  43. Hi,

    Need help on excel, I would like to know if there any formula for the excel that if I click on a single cell the contents of that cell will reflect on the other cell but the same work sheet.

    Example:
    The format is

    Cell data
    A1 1
    A2 2
    A3 3
    A4 4

    if I click Cell A1, the data will reflect on
    E1 = 1, and if I click cell A2, the data will also reflect to E1 = 2, and so forth.... to which cell I click the data of that cell will still reflect on E1.

    Thank You

  44. I have many entities in cells and i want to sum some maximum out of all the given what i have to do.
    Thanks

    1. Hello Zia,
      Could you please describe your task in more detail? If possible, please send a sample spreadsheet with your data and the expected results to support@ablebits.com and include a link to this blog post and your comment number.

      We'll do our best to assist you.

  45. Anyone know how to compare conditionally formatted colored cells in a column and color a cell in another column? VBA, formula, anything that can do this?

    Thanks,
    Andrew

    1. Hello Andrew,

      Could you specify if you are trying to compare the values of the cells or their colors? If you have a sample spreadsheet you could share with support@ablebits.com, it would help us understand your task and the expected results better.

  46. I have data in 2 different sheets. I want to color the cell of sheet 1 which is not available in sheet 2.

    e.g. if sheet 1 contains
    Fruit-apple, mango, grapes
    Vegetable- cabbage,carrot,potato
    in sheet 2 it contains
    Fruit-apple, grapes
    Vegetable- cabbage,carrot

    then mango & potato should be colored out.

    Kindly suggest a way to solve this.

    1. Hello Dipun,

      You can use the following formula in your conditional formatting rule:
      =ISNA(MATCH(A2,Sheet2!A$2:A$5,0))

  47. I have a specific need:
    I need a Bar Chart where the colour of a Bar should change based on the text Value in particular column on the table
    For. Eg.
    Teh followign cell references:
    A1: Worktype A | B1: 30
    A2: Worktype B | B2: 40
    A3: Worktype C | B3: 60
    Should show up as WT A - Green Bar; WT B - Orange Bar and WT C - Red Bar
    Every time the Work Type repeats in the table, the bar should automatically be of the colour mentioned in the rule. Is this possible?

  48. I am trying to use a 3 color scale formatting rule where each row of data contains the low/medium/high standards that should drive the formatting rule. This type of formatting rule doesn't want a relative reference which forces all of the formatting rules to just the very first low/medium/high standard to set the color.

    Other web postings suggest highlighting the whole range that the formatting rule should be applied to and then change the cell references to relative from absolute. However, I can't get this to work, excel will not accept a cell reference that isn't absolute.

    1. Hello Tom,

      Unfortunately this is a limitation in Excel: you can't use relative references for 3-color scale formatting, icon sets, etc. You either need to create a rule for each line, or specify the start and end points of the range with absolute references.

  49. Hello,

    Maybe someone will be able to help me :) Thanks in advance!

    The thing is:
    I have a value in B5 and this value needs to be in the range "-1% of B3; +1% of B3" to be approved for use. Next problem, I have an empty raw between 3 and 5, that I cannot delete and still need to use the formatting (the same when I have two or three empty raws between values that need to be compared). If value between "-1% of B3; +1% of B3" then the B5 cell gets green.

    How can I make it that the formating take the good value to compare it with, and that it ignores empty cells but goes up to the cell where the first value is. This value will change in function of the previous B value.

    Is that clear?

    Thank you for your help!

    1. Hello John,

      You need to create a conditional formatting rule with the following formula:
      =ABS(B5)<=ABS(B3/100)

  50. Cannot get this working and am going mad. I've tried all three combos (i.e. $E26, E$26, $E$26 but none works.

    Across columns E to M, I want to white out cell(row 27) if cell(row 26) is blank.

    So I'm using:
    Formula: =$E26="" Applies to: $E$27:$M$27
    or
    Formula: =E$26="" Applies to: $E$27:$M$27

    but neither works. Any/all help would be apreciated. Thanks!

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