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 3. Total comments: 1709

  1. Hello,
    I have to highlight duplicates Values in Column A, If value in the column is "No". Also, duplicate value is equal to "Yes" I dont want to highlight that cell.
    ID Received
    12 No
    12 No
    13 Yes
    13 No

    2. Also i dont want to consider ID's for duplicate values if its equal to "Yes".

  2. Hello there!

    I have a budgeting template I'm using and I can't really get the conditional formatting to work.

    I have columns in a table labeled: Amount, Budget, and Difference. I'm trying to use conditional formatting on the Difference column with Icon Sets. Whenever I clicked on the Icon Sets button and selected the one I wanted, it would place the icon in the column, but it wouldn't be accurate for what I was wanting it to do.
    I'll put an example below:

    Amount Budget Difference
    $25.00 $50.00 (Up Arrow Icon) $25.00
    $75.00 $25.00 (Up Arrow Icon) ($50.00)
    $100.00 $20.00 (Right-facing Arrow Icon) ($80.00)

    That's just a small example of what keeps happening to me. I wanted to see how much more negative I was compared to the amount I budgeted for; however, the icons are misleading. It'd put a green/good arrow where the number was negative and should have had a red down arrow. I hope this makes sense. I'd include a snippet of my screen for more clarity, but it won't let me paste the image here. Please help!

  3. Hello,

    I have a data set that contains text in the 1st cell of a row and then numbers in the next contiguous cells, depending on number of samples taken.
    I want to format the numbers based on the specific text in the 1st cell as a 3 colour scale.
    Each 3 colour scale would be different based on the text in the 1st cell.
    eg:
    bananas,3 8,2,6,9 --> highlight cells red if bananas value <4, Yellow if 6
    oranges,30, 80,50 --> highlight cells red iv value <4, Yellow if 6

    I cant figure from this tutorial, how this may be achieved.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated

    1. Hi! If you want to know how to use Color Scale correctly, have a look at this article: Excel conditional formatting Color Scales.
      Because Color Scale cannot use another cell's value for formatting, I don't think it can be used in your case.
      You need to create a separate conditional formatting rule for each condition, as described in the article above.

  4. Hi,
    Thanks for your time.
    I am after a formula for conditional formatting that relies on data from 4 other cells.
    Basically, I want cell A4 to switch colour based off whether the values in B1, B2, B3 and B4 all equal "Pass". If they all don't equal pass, then the colour doesn't change.
    The conditions for B1:B4 equal: Pass, Fail or "blank"
    I'm thinking a formula something like: =(B1="pass"+B2="pass"+B3="pass"+B4="pass")

    Thanks for your assistance.

      1. Thanks Alexander, that worked great.

  5. I want a simple calculation, of one value divided by the value in the next column, to highlight the first column where the value exceed a limit, e.g. =$C2/$D2>3600, but it is highlighting cells that do not meet this condition and missing cells that do. I am baffled as to why this doesn't work - there are other conditional formatting rules on the worksheet, but they only apply to different columns. Do you have any advice as to what I could be missing please?

    1. Hi! Unfortunately, you don't write what errors you are getting. If you apply the conditional formatting rule to the whole column, do the formula for the first row =$C1/$D1>3600
      If this does not help, explain the problem in detail.

  6. I am trying to format a single cell based on the contents of two other cells in the same row as each other. The cell that I need to format is J9. The cells in the other rows are C11 and J11. The rows end at 61. I can get my formula to apply the formatting to J9, but not in all scenarios.

    What I need to be true in order for my main cell (J9) to be formatted is the following:
    C11 or J11 must be empty.
    C11 and J11 must be empty (or not)

    Thank you for your help!

    1. Hi! Have you tried the methods described in this blog post? If you are not satisfied, please let me know and I will try to help you. Based on your description of the problem, I can't help you because the condition "C11 and J11 must be empty (or not)" doesn't make sense.

  7. =AND($L2>365,$M2<18)
    I am using this formula to get rows from L row which has greater than 365 and M row has less than 18. The M row contains % values. It highlighting this data - 5584 112.95.

  8. Hello,

    I want a formula that formats my cell based on a range value in another cell.

    Example: I want my cell to be coloured if the number in another cell is between 20,02 and 50.

    I can't make it work with ("and") and ("or") formulas. I don't know why.

    Can anyone help me?

    1. Hi! Please re-check the article above. Pay attention to the following paragraph: Formulas to compare values (numbers and text). For example: =AND($B2>5, $B2<10)

  9. I haven't used Excel in years. I'm using Excel 360's Year Calendar template. Column A has numbers 1-31, columns B-M are months that contain text of when a project is due. I used Conditional Formatting to change the cells color to yellow when text is entered into a cell. I want to use Conditional Formatting to change the cell color to orange when the due date is 14 days from today and red when 7 days from today. Can you help?

    I've used =$A3=TODAY()+7 nothing happens

    Thank you very much for your time

  10. Hello! I am trying to format cells based on a formula. In a row, I need to find the tree adjacent cells with maximum cumulative value and format them with a color. Here's an example of my data:
    A B C D E F
    1 120 42 201 207 210 111
    2 19 109 91 63 33 25

    In the first row, cells C1-D1-E1 make up the higest total value (i.e., 618). I find it by using a formula =MAX(A1:D1+B1:E1+C1:F1), then pressing Ctrl-Shift-Enter. In the second row, the respective cells will be B2-C2-D2 (263). Now I just need to color-mark these cells based on the above formula, and then spread this condition onto next rows downwards.

    When I am trying to do so, I keep getting color-marked all cells which are selected, not only those which are true based on my condition. I tried this also with other formulas, but ended up with the same result (all selected cells become marked).

    Would greatly appreciate your help.

    1. Hello! Your maximum value formula does not match the problem description. However, I think it is impossible to highlight these cells using conditional formatting. I'm really sorry, we cannot help you with this issue.

  11. I am trying to conditionally format column A or based on a values in column B. However, it does not do anything.

    Contact Information (A) Key (B)
    Contact Name 100
    Nickname / Preferred Name 2
    Relationship Name 100
    Title 72
    Department 5

    Rule
    =$B$2<20 applied to =$A$2:$A$6 (Trying to Conditionally highlight Column A values when its column B value is less than 20)

    The rule works when individually applied on each row. Example $B$3<20 applied to $A$3 works.

  12. Sorry i also need this formatting to only happen if the response date cell is still blank...

  13. Hi this has been really helpful but I am trying to do a conditional formatting formula - I have a cell with a date when a complaint is received and have a cell where the response date is put
    I want to highlight the response date cell amber if it is 7 days or more from the received date and highlight the response date cell red if it is 15 days from the received date to show when responses are due, can you help at all? thank you

      1. many thanks

  14. i need to use condition formatting to highlight the colour of D Column if the value of D is greater than 1.1 times of B Column.

  15. Hello, I'm trying to format a pivot table that says if $B15="(blank)" then format the font on that entire row 'white'. This pivot table will be using different size data sources, so how do I need to use the applies to section. Every time I enter a range it automatically changes to absolute values.

    1. Hi, what formula must i use if i want to carry over a value/data from once cell to another if that value is greater than an zero. I want to say: =A2, if the value in A2 is greater than 0, otherwise 0

  16. Hi, I'm trying to set up a sheet to compare pricing from 3 different vendors. I have over 400 rows and I want the cheapest one in each row to be highlighted. I set up a formula to look like this. =AB6=MIN($AB:$AD6) and I applied to all the rows. It went and highlighted each row, the problem is, in some rows it did not highlight the cheapest one and in some rows it highlighted more than one cell. Can you help me?

      1. Hi, I commented earlier. The formula you provided is the formula that I used, and did not work. Is there a way to fix it?

        1. If you look carefully, I suggested a different formula. MIN($AB:$AD6) - it's wrong and it's impossible. If you apply it to the entire range, e.g. A1:C4000, the minimum number in each row will be highlighted. I may have guessed wrong, as I am having trouble understanding your question: "I want the cheapest one in each row to be highlighted".

  17. Hi! I am trying to format a column if the conditions below are both met.
    U2 is less than or equal to Y1
    F1 is less than or equal to Y1
    All values are dates and F1 and Y1 are fixed.

    1. Hi! Read carefully the recommendations in the article above. Pay attention to the following paragraph: Compare values based on several conditions (OR and AND formulas). There is an answer to your question there. To have both conditions true, use the logical function AND.

  18. In one sheet there are ITEM#, QTY, PRICE, CAT#. In another sheet there are ITEM# & CAT# which is populated. I have to enter the ITEM# in the first sheet and using vlookup CAT# will be fetched from the 2nd sheet. Now I want to apply conditional formatting in the 1st sheet on ITEM# column so that if anything outside the range of ITEM# entered from 2nd sheet then the cell will be colored in sheet 1 on ITEM# cell. Please advise what formula should I apply in the conditional formatting here.

  19. Hi,
    I have a timetable where I want several cells to change color if something is written in one cell.
    So in row 1 are the days and in column A are the times.
    Each cell in the table corresponds to one hour.
    I would like someone to be able to write their name + 3h or 6h etc and have the cell written in plus the cells below change color.
    So for example if someone writes name + 6h in D4. D4 to D9 will change color.
    If someone writes name + 3h in F10. F10 to F12 will change color. And so on.
    Is that possible?
    Thanks in advance

    1. Hi! The conditional formatting rule is set for each cell separately. I'm really sorry, looks like this is not possible with the standard Excel options.

  20. Good day,

    I tried to apply your tutorial to my situation, but my brain is not connecting the dots. I want to format a cell in column H if cell D is "Yes" and the time in H is > 00:01:20. See my summary with the or condition below. I'm getting errors on the variations that I'm attempting.

    Format cell:
    If D2 is Yes, and H2 > 00:01:20
    or
    D2 is No, and H2 > 00:05:00

    I assume two different conditions with stop if true, but I can't even get one to work.

    Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

  21. I work a lot with conditional formatting, sometime up to 100's at a time.
    Since the excel is more and more used in the cloud, and VBA is not possible anymore, I stumble across this, which maybe, very maybe, can be resolved by conditional formatting:

    I change a value in a matrix, let's keep it simple $A$2:$E$2
    By a formula I can change the date in $F$2 to today

    Is it possible to do the following with conditional formatting (it is NOT possible with a formula):
    I want $G$3 to display the date of the last change in the matrix.

    Since everything is always updated, I think it must be impossible however, there is a menu 'review/show latest changes', is there way to access those values, then we are saved.

    thanks for any response
    Johan

  22. Compare 2 columns for duplicates
    for this part I used this formula
    for column A:=COUNTIFS($B1$:$B$5,A1)>=1
    for column B:=COUNTIFS($A1$:$A$5,B1)>=1

  23. Hi!
    This is very helpful. I do have a question, though: I'm trying to set up a formula for a material list in Excel at work. The material list tab has a column for Quantities, Materials, and Unit Prices. The Unit Prices for each material item are auto-generated into each cell on Column I based on a material cost database located on a separate tab in the workbook. The material cost database is pretty comprehensive, but it does not provide a unit cost for all material items, so if an item is selected on the Material List tab that does not have a unit price in the database, Column I will show pricing for that item as $0.00 on the Material List tab. I would like to set up a formula that highlights that cell so that it flags attention to the missing cost.

    Example: Let's say I want to price a quantity of five pieces of wood that are 2x4x16'. I first enter a quantity of "5" in cell A5. I then select "2x4x16'" in the drop-down menu in cell D5. The unit price for this item will automatically appear in cell I5 and the extended price for the total cost of five pieces will appear in cell J5. Now, let's say I want to change the length of the boards from 16' to 14'. So I use the drop-down menu to select "2x4x14'". However, let's say that a price does not yet exist for the 14' boards in the cost database, so the unit price in cell I5 shows $0.00 instead of a unit cost. In this scenario, since I'm asking it for a price on a quantity (five boards), I want cell I5 to highlight itself so that it shows a missing unit cost for this item. At the same time, I also don't want the cell to turn red if the quantity listed in A5 is set to zero. Does this make sense? I've tried using the formula =AND(A5>0, I5>=0), but it did not work as I was hoping because it is now turning cell I5 red whenever a quantity greater than zero is entered into A5. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

  24. can you please help in manage the following formatting:
    They should be conditionally formatted so X days to 20 days have a no background, 30-15 days are in a yellow background, and 15-0 days are in Red. Once it goes into active status, +1 days, the conditional formatting background should become green.

    As for the end date time delta:
    The conditional formatting should be green until 4 months from contract end, at three months the background should be conditionally formatted to be shaded yellow, and then at 1 month, the background should be red.

    Also, please use the start date, end date or extension dates in the tracker and not ones that are two weeks out. We need real countdown to when the call order goes live.

  25. This is all beyond me however, I am trying to learn. I want to change the colour of the font in a cell when 2 other cells have text in the cell. i.e. B2=when C2 and D2 have text. Is this something that is possible? Any help would be greatly received.

  26. Hi,

    Fascinating examples and too complicated for me. I have only used conditional formatting for finding duplicates in different columns. It works fine for most item but some items that appear to be identical are not marked in red. My case is addresses. I am very carful about spacing, spelling, and punctuation all of which if not identical will fail to fail two items as identical. Any idea why Excel refuses to recognize visually identical items in isolated instances? After copying one oveer the other they do turn red (obviously). This is frustrating in trying to elimiate duplicate addresses. Any? idea what is going on.

    Charles

  27. Hi,
    I wonder if you can help me as I am tearing my hair out. I am trying to highlight a cell when the date becomes overdue but then change say from red overdue to green done. My column with the wording overdue and done does not show in the formula. The cell I want to highlight (J4) has the formula

    =IF(AND([@[Status ]]="Complete",[@Complete]=1),1,IF(ISBLANK([@[Due Date ]]),-1,IF(AND([@[Status ]]"Complete",TODAY()>[@[Due Date ]]),0,-1)))

    I cannot see where these words are fetched from unless they are hidden somewhere.

    1. Hi! It is very difficult to understand a formula that contains unique references to your workbook worksheets. Hence, I cannot check its work. However, the conditional formatting formula must return TRUE or FALSE (1 or 0), not -1. For conditional formatting, your formula cannot work.

  28. I am trying to replicate a conditional format. For each new cell the conditional value changes. So for example the result in A2 is /= to A1 but the result in B2 is /= B1. So far I can only get the results for A2-F2 to be conditional on A1 and not change for each new cell. I hope I'm explaining this right! Apart from just doing over 100 cells individually is there a way to easily replicate. Thanks

  29. I am trying to highlight duplicated if column A and column B are the same. I am creating a spreadsheet with book and page Column A is the Book and Column B is the page I want the duplicates of the same book and page. So if book 135 and page 2 repeats I want that highlighted. Is there a way to do this?

  30. Hi, I am trying to highlight a cell if the value of one cell id not equal to AND the value of a cell is equal to.

    I tried this but is not working

    =IF(AND($C44"#N/A",$D44="#N/A"),TRUE,FALSE)

  31. Hi, I have a list of dates for deliverables and want to highlight those that are due today; due this week; due next week; etc. I used the 'Date Occurring' prebuilt criteria which is great for highlighting the date (in column C), BUT I want to also highlight the task description (in column A) the same colour as the date. I can use the formula, but I cannot see a formula that has the concept of "This week" (I can do 'between TODAY() and TODAY()+7' but this is not the same concept as 'This week' which is the Sun-Sat week (or Mon-Sun).

    Do you have any suggestions? Otherwise I will just have to rebuild it using the 'between' formula which doesn't quite do what I wanted (with people being able to see those tasks due this working week, next working week, etc. and would instead be due in the next 7days, or the next 7-14 days.

    Any suggestions? Thanks :)

    1. I have solved it, though there may be a more efficient way.

      I ended up using the "WEEKNUM" function. So, if the due date is in cell C1, then:

      This week is WEEKNUM(TODAY())=WEEKNUM($C1)
      Next week is WEEKNUM(TODAY()+1=WEEKNUM($C1)

      If there is a better way, I'd be happy to hear it. As it is, this is my IF statement for the due date descriptor column:
      =IF(ISNUMBER($C1),IF($C1TODAY(),$C1TODAY(),$C1<TODAY()+31),"This month",""))))))),"")

      This may be a bit overdone with too many options so may be refined (removing the next fortnight for example), but for now it's what I was after.

      Happy to hear any feedback/criticism/ideas!

      Keep up the great work :)

      1. It cut off my IF statement as it doesn't like some of the syntax. Not sure how to get around that. Needless to say, that formula is not correct! :)

  32. I am trying to figure out how to use conditional formatting so that if I have a group of five cells the fifth cell is red unless there is text in any of those five cells. So I would like A5 to be the color red but if there is text in any cell A1:A5 then the color of the A5 cell would be gray. Is this possible?

  33. Hello! Im looking to create a conditional format rule to highlight when a commission was not paid, but was supposed to.
    I have "Yes" or "No" values where the column is the month, and the row is a policy that commission should have been paid to.
    I also have another field in a separate column the date the commission should have started
    For example:
    Commission start: 10/22
    Payment status:
    10/22 No
    11/22 Yes
    12/22 NO

    I want it to basically highlight the 12/22 field because a commission was NOT received even though it should have been (after that commission start date)
    Any advice?

    1. Hi! I hope you have studied the recommendations in the tutorial above. Unfortunately, this information is not enough to recommend a formula to you. It is not clear how your data is written. However, "12/22" and "12/22 NO" are text. You cannot compare the text "10/22" to the text "12/22".

  34. I have been struggling with conditional formatting for weeks trying to crack this code! I have a spreadsheet that is tracking Personnel (Column A), with a completion date (Column C) within a time frame of 6 months. I have set up 3 cells with current date (E44), start date (E47), due date (E48) separate from the table.
    I need a formula that will highlight cells in column A, based on whether Column C is blank AND a specific Cell (E44) is within 60/30/15 days of the due date listed in Cell (E48). Each increment will be formatted to a different color (i.e.60=blue, 30=yellow, 15=red).

    1. Hi! If I understand your task correctly, the following conditional formatting formula should work for you:

      =AND(ISBLANK(C1),$E$48-$E$44<60)

      Combine the conditions using the AND function.

  35. Hi All - I'm not sure if this is possible but would like to pick your experience and knowledge to see what could be done...

    I'm trying to apply a conditional formatting on a column.. to change the cell color when it meets the below conditions:

    1. Cells in the column where we have conditional formatting applied should be more than 0
    AND
    2. Value in the adjacent cell in the same row should be a fixed text
    AND
    3. Value in a fixed cell anywhere in the file should be a fixed text.

    Example:
    I have texts in cell A3, A6, A7, A9.... = Deployed
    I have text in cell B2 = Not Deployed
    I have text in cell C2 and D2 = Deployed

    I need to have conditional formatting applied in column D, the conditions should be as mentioned above... If I'm looking at Cell D3, if the value is more than 0, if the value in D2 = Deployed and if the value in A3 is Deployed, then the cell D3 should be colored green..

    I have tried a lot of combinations and formulae and its not working... any help would be highly appreciated.

    1. Hi! You have given two different descriptions of the task. The sample data does not match these descriptions. It is not clear to which data range you want to apply conditional formatting. If you need help, please describe your problem accurately.

  36. Hi there! I'm having quite a bit of difficulty with conditional formatting. I've been trying to figure this out for weeks now! I would appreciate any amount of help!

    Here's an example of what I'm working with:

    Column A has dates and Column B has rooms. I want a duplicate value in Column B to be highlighted only if there is also a duplicate date in Column A of the same rows. Basically, if Room 1 is being listed twice on the one date, I'd like it to be highlighted.

    For example: I would like to have a formula that formats B2 and B3 if A2 and A3 are the same, but not include B4, because the room is different, and not B5 because the date is different.

    A2 B2
    01 January Room 1 - Highlight
    A3 B3
    01 January Room 1 - Highlight
    A4 B4
    01 January Room 2
    A5 B5
    02 January Room 1

  37. Hi everyone!

    I'm having a hard time working with conditional formattig on Excel Online. I don't know if the logics are different from the desktop version, but I feel like the formulas are very simple and straight-forward, however they are not working as I expect them to. I have a fill with multiple data validations in place but unfortunately this data validations do not work because we usually copy and paste data from other sheets and paste it on this one, which seems to bypass the validations. So I have been trying to use conditional formatting to highlight the cells instead.

    Here are two examples:

    1. For a column (F) with data validation list, I want to highlight the cells it if the text is not Proper case. I'm using the following conditional formatting rule: Apply to range F2 and Highlight cells with cell value not equal to =EXACT($F2,PROPER($F2)). The issue is that this highlights all the cells. My expectations is that it should highlight "this example" but not "This Example". I also tried changing range to F2:F, F2:F2 and changing the formula to =EXACT(F2,PROPER(F2)) | =AND(EXACT(F2,PROPER(F2)),ISTEXT(F2))

    2. For a column (B) with data validation based on length, I want to highlight the cells if the value is not equal to exactly 10 characters. I'm using the following conditional formatting rule: Apply to range B2 and Highlight cells with cell value not equal to =LEN(B2)=10. The issue is that this highlights all the cells as well. My expectations is that it should highlight "123" or "123456789012345" but not "1234567890".

    I'd appreciate any help with this. Thanks in advance!

  38. Hello,
    I have a conditional formatting for a file and was wondering if you could help.
    I will use | to show how the file columns are set up with 1 set of headers in row 3.

    |Current|Comparison|New|Special1|Special2|Current|Comparison|New|Current|Comparison|New|Special1|Current|Comparison|New|

    The conditional formatting looks at the data under Current and New to highlight is based on the values. (like if Current is 5 and New is 0, then fill color is Red. If Current is 5 and New is 10, then fill color is Orange)

    With the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager, Applies To:
    Currently I have to add the range for every column I need it applied to. (like this, =$O$4:$O$12,$T$4:$T$12,$W$4:$W$12,$AA$4:$AA$12)
    How I can apply to a whole range ($O$4:$AA$12), but if the column header row 3 = "New"?

  39. JA51______________________JD51___________JE51___________________JF51________________JG51
    *Jul - Overtime __________9:00____________R4 277.37_____________9:00________________R4 277.34

    Sorry, I am resending my request to see if me worksheet extract will be better understood.

    I want to highlight cells JA51:JG51 green when JE51 is within 5% of JG51. In row 3, I have numbered the columns for use in another formula.

    I have tried the conditional formatting formula below. When I split the two AND functions, they both work, bur when I combine them into the AND function, I get no highlight.

    =AND(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+3,3))>=(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+5,3))*0.95),INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+3,3))<=(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+5,3))*1.05))

    Many Thanks

  40. JA51 JD51 JE51 JF51 JG51
    *Jul - Overtime > 180: 9:00 R4 277.37 9:00 R4 277.34

    Good Afternoon

    I want to highlight cells JA51:JG51 green when JE51 is within 5% of JG51. In row 3, I have numbered the columns for use in another formula.

    I have tried the conditional formatting formula below. When I split the two AND functions, they both work, bur when I combine them into the AND function, I get no highlight.

    =AND(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+3,3))>=(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+5,3))*0.95),INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+3,3))<=(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(),JA$3+5,3))*1.05))

    Many Thanks

  41. Hello Svetlana Cheusheva,
    I am doing a very simple =A1'OLD'!A1. I am applying it to cells A1:CH3000

    I have a column CC that has mixed formatted data (some cells are numbers others are text) that is outputted from Access. It is coming out as "General" format.

    I have verified that BOTH New tab and Old Tab have same formatting for this column, yet EVERY cell in that column that has data is highlighted.

    If I go in to the cell, CC1 and check for spaces... the formatting resets and goes... hey I match CC1 on Old now.

    This is a huge doc and I'm trying to highlight changes from the previous week's report.

    2. =A1 'OLD'!A1
      The comment box keeps wiping out the It should read A1 is not equal to OLD A1

    3. =A1'OLD'!A1

  42. 'm trying to use conditional formatting to highlight cells containing a reference to a cell in another sheet. It works on some of the cells, but not all containing the said reference formula.
    What could be causing this?

  43. good day! I want to ask if its possible to highlight the lowest value based on the highlighted result in conditional formatting. Thank you!

  44. Hello.
    I created a conditional formatting rule to make text within a cell bold and red if it equals 'NEIN'.
    The rule does not work consistently. Every once in a while I have to manually change the color.

    It's not really a big deal, just a little frustrating.

    Is it possible to use a formula to automatically format text in a cell? I'm using Excel 2021 on Windows 10.

    Thanks in advance.

  45. Hello~

    I've tried conditional formatting and it doesn't apply formula.

    Example :

    I want to change the value of a cell to "0", if another cell has the word "cancelled" in it.

    The formula I've written:

    =if(D3="cancelled", "0", false)

    For some reason it doesn't apply to the cell or row.

    Thank you in advance~

    1. Hello! Conditional formatting cannot change the value of a cell. You need an Excel formula for that. You have written this formula. You can also change the value of a cell by condition using a VBA macro.

  46. I'm trying to use conditional formatting to highlight cells containing a reference to a cell in another sheet. It works on some of the cells, but not all containing the said reference formula.
    What could be causing this?

    1. Hi! Unfortunately, this information is not enough to give you any advice. Please specify what you want to do, what formula you used, and what problem or error occurred.

  47. I want to be able to dynamically color a range of cells based on another range of cells. From what I'm seeing here you would have to manually write a rule and manually program a format for every single possible color. This is an unacceptable solution. It should be easy to simply have a range from 1-10, and color your cells based on whichever value from 1-10 you have; you should not need to manually program all 10 rules.

  48. Hello! I am working on a workbook with 2 relevant sheets. I would like a cell to be formatted to a specific color depending on its membership to a specific table. The formula returns True properly and Fase properly, but I am unable to use the formula within the rule formula field.

    Sheet 1 (only the first column is relevant)
    ----------
    Role Name
    Permission Name 1
    Permission Name 2

    Sheet 2 (T_Permissions definition; only the first column is relevant)
    ----------
    [ Permission Name ]
    Permission Name 1
    Permission Name 2

    FORMULA:
    =(IFERROR(IF(VLOOKUP(A3, T_Permissions[Permission Name], 1, FALSE)=A3, TRUE, FALSE), FALSE))

    VLOOKUP finds A3 (Permission Name 1) within T_Permissions[Permission Name] and returns the permission name if found. False tag is set so i can filter the tables.
    If this returned permission name equals the initially referenced cell's value, return True. Else return False.
    If there was an error through this process, False should be returned

    If input in an individual cell, the output is TRUE when appropriate and FALSE when appropriate.
    When input to the conditional formatting rule, I receive the error "There is a problem with this formula" and recommends putting quotes to signify that it is not a formula.

    I have also tried to input the following as a rule:
    =OR(=IFERROR(IF(VLOOKUP(A3, T_Permissions[Permission Name], 1, FALSE)=A3, TRUE, FALSE), FALSE))
    and
    =False() OR (IFERROR(IF(VLOOKUP(A3, T_Permissions[Permission Name], 1, FALSE)=A3, TRUE, FALSE), FALSE))
    and
    =IFERROR(IF(VLOOKUP(A3, T_Permissions[Permission Name], 1, 0)=A3, 1, 0), 0)
    (this one will return 1 and 0 appropriately)

    Do you have any ideas? I'm new to excel (but not programming) and am frequently having to visit this site and the excel formula list,

    2. To clarify:
      VLOOKUP references A3 from Sheet 1 (A1 is blank, A3# is a list of permissions associated with the role of A2)
      and
      =OR(=IFERROR(IF(VLOOKUP(A3, T_Permissions[Permission Name], 1, FALSE)=A3, TRUE, FALSE), FALSE))
      should be
      =OR(IFERROR(IF(VLOOKUP(A3, T_Permissions[Permission Name], 1, FALSE)=A3, TRUE, FALSE), FALSE))

      all of these alternatives returned the same error

  49. I have a rule in column A and I copied a line of information from a different spreadsheet and pasted to the spreadsheet with the rule. Now the rule will not apply to the newly added information in column A.

    1. Hi! When copying and pasting from another table, you copy not only the values, but also the format. Therefore, conditional formatting will not be applied to this data. Use Paste Values.

  50. I am trying to format a running balance for fund tracking. I would like to use the 3-color scale to do so. For values =12001 AND <=3500). Whichever way the midpoint color scale works is fine with me, I just want to have the gradient effect as the values get lower and lower. Lastly once the remaining balance reaches a value of <12,000 I want those cells to be red. This way I can track when our remaining fund balance is getting low the color is a warning sign to either slow payments, or halt them altogether. I hope this makes sense. The numbers I will play around with a bit to see exactly what values I want in the formula bars, but I just can't get the conditional formatting to take to my range of column data. (Excel says I cannot use relative references which has me confused on whether or not the absolute references will always resort back to the FIRST cell's value or will it carry through the column.

    The running balance is a calculated column form some other columns nearby, and starts at the top value of 60,000. I want the scale to then change based on those above criteria. So as I progress throughout the year and spend funds down, the column I am trying to format is a calculated value based on the previous balance minus the new payment made. Does that affect my conditional formatting rules at all being a calculated cell? I would not think it would, but just brainstorming my own logic.

    I am trying to do the conditional formatting using formulas, since I want to highlight cells that meet certain thresholds as warnings to myself about getting close to running out of funds. Would appreciate any and all guidance please.

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