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 34. Total comments: 1726

  1. Hi,
    I want to apply conditional formatting on cells within a worksheet that start with the same letter. For example, I have H1, H2, ....., H20 as values in my worksheet and I would like to apply a rule that every time the value in a cell starts with "H", the cell is filled in a certain color.
    Can you help me ?
    Thanks,
    Marc

  2. That was Awesome, Thank you

  3. Hello, can you help me with below argument. what formula can i use for this.

    a b c
    4138.6 6 Tonner TRUE
    3188.6 4 Tonner TRUE
    3188.6 6 Tonner FALSE
    4138.6 4 Tonner FALSE

    the argument is (if b=6 tonner and a is greater than 4100 then its true) or (if b=4 tonner and is greater than 3100 then its true.

  4. Hello,

    I am trying to highlight a cell (C9) red if it is between 12 and 100 and if another cell(J9) is blank. also want C9 to turn green if it has the same number range but when J9 has "C/W" in there. I know I need to separate formats, but everything I've tried turns the cell green when the blank is there.

    thank you

  5. Hello,

    I have a string of numbers:
    4 3 8 9 4 6 6 10 6 15 1

    I want to higlight each case:
    1. in red(for example, or put an lower red arrow) if the number in the next case is lower than the previous,
    2. in green(for example, or an upper green arrow) if the number in the next case is bigger and
    3. in orange(or square orange arrow) if the number in the next case is equal with the previous.

    Thank you.

  6. Hello,
    I have the following formula and it keeps producing following error: "#NAME"

    =IF(OR(F6=YES, G6=YES, H6=YES), "At Store","Not at Store")

    What am I doing wrong? The same formula works if i replace "YES" with "10 or 20 or 30".

    Thank you so much.

    1. Hi Sarah,

      All text in a formula should be enclosed in double quote marks. Your formula needs to read as follows:

      =IF(OR(F6="YES", G6="YES", H6="YES"), "At Store","Not at Store")

      1. Thank you so much. This is great!!!!

        As a follow up here is my major issue. How do I add this formula to an if, iserror, index formula? I keep getting an error.

        Working Formula:
        =IF(ISERROR(INDEX($B$2:$C$41,SMALL(IF($B$2:$B$41=E3,ROW($B$2:$B$41)),COLUMN($A$2:$A$501)),2)),"",INDEX($B$2:$C$41,SMALL(IF($B$2:$B$41=E3,ROW($B$2:$B$41)),COLUMN($A$2:

        Non-Working Formula:
        =IF(OR(F3="Yes", G3="Yes", H3="Yes"), "Available", "Not Available", ISERROR(INDEX($B$2:$C$41,SMALL(IF($B$2:$B$41=E3,ROW($B$2:$B$41)),COLUMN($B$2:$B$5000)),2)),"",INDEX($B$2:$C$41,SMALL(IF($B$2:$B$41=E3,ROW($B$2:$B$41)),COLUMN($B$2:$B$5000)),2)))

        Am I adding to incorrect location?

  7. ok,

    i was hopping i would find the answer on the page but i haven't so her goes...
    what i want is for example in b7= if(b6>b5)=a3 however if (b6<b5)=a2
    i cannot figure out how to do this, it needs to be that if the value of cell b6 is greater than cell b5 i get the result as cell a3 however ig cell b6 is less than cell b5 the result is cell a2. how do i do this? (keeping a running tally on a competition and want cell b7 to prepopulate for the winner on any given day)

    1. Hi Shantal,

      You don't need conditional formatting for this. Simply enter the following formula in B7:

      =IF(B6>B5, A3, IF(B6<B5, A2, ""))

      Please keep in mind that if B6=B5, the formula will return an empty string (blank cell).

  8. Hi

    i would like to know if it is possible to format a cell depending from other cell, my case is as follows.

    i´m doing a vlookup from severals values but in some cases the values are percentages and other integers, in that cases a need to change the format to % or $ so i need the values keeps there format after the retrieve from the vlookup.

    thanks

  9. Hi Svetlana,

    I need to conditional format cells based on a changing value.

    B20 contains a percentage that changes each day (30%, 35%, 40%, etc).
    I want cells G23:G37 to conditional format if they are equal to value in B20, within 5% of B20, above B20, and below B20.

    Do I need a separate rule for each set of criteria I have or can I combine into one formula line?

    1. Hi Dillon,

      You will need a separate rule for each criteria because you would want to use different colors, right?

      And you can create the rules based on the following formulas:

      Equal to value in B20: =$G23=$B$20

      Within 5% of B20: =ABS(($G23-$B$20)/$B$20)>5%

      Above B20:=$G23>$B$20

      Below B20:=$G23<$B$20

  10. Hi,

    I want to get greatest value among two cells to be in new cell how do I do that.

    Regards,
    Ahmed

    1. Hi Ahmed,

      You can use a formula similar to this:
      =MAX(A1,A2)

      1. Thanks a lot.

  11. The following formula looks correct to me, but only affects the first cell in the range. I'm trying to change the fill color in cells B through M of a given row when cell D of that row contains a particular text string. Using row 23 as an example:

    Rule =D23="TEST"
    Format (pick a fill color)
    Applies to =$B$23:$M$23

    When I type TEST into cell D, only cell B changes fill color. I've tried this with and without "Stop If True" and both with and without dollar signs in all combinations. I can change any single cell on the worksheet, but putting in a range only affects the first cell.

    Thanks very much for any insight you can provide! :)

  12. Hi
    I am having a hard time getting some conditional formatting to work, maybe you can help..??
    I have a spreadsheet with columns of data
    What I want to do is apply a rule to a column that will highlight the cell of a manually entered figure orange, and leave the cells that contain a formula with an unaltered format.
    thanks in advance
    :-)!

    1. Hi Rick,

      To leave the cells with formula blank, create a rule with the ISFORMULA function (no background or fill color is selected for this rule) and make sure it comes first in the list of rules, e.g. =ISFORMULA($A1)

      To highlight the numbers entered manually with orange, you can create a rule with the formula like =ISNUMBER($A1)

      To highlight all cells with values other than formulas, use the formula like =AND(ISFORMULA($A1)=FALSE, $A1<>"") The non-format rule with the ISFORMULA function is not needed in this case.

    2. Hi Rick,

      To leave the cells with formula blank, create a rule with the ISFORMULA function (no background or fill color is selected for this rule) and make sure it comes first in the list of rules, e.g. =ISFORMULA($A1)

      To highlight the numbers entered manually with orange, you can create a rule with the formula like =ISNUMBER($A1)

      To highlight

  13. How can I create a condition for a spreadsheet in which column A will tell me which cell on that row has a value of $0.00? Not a blank value but the actual value of $0.00.

    1. Hi Nikki,

      Select the entire column A and create a rule with the following formula:

      =AND($A1=0, $A1<>"")

  14. I have a date in my one cell and I want to highlight the another cell only if the date in particular month and also I want to count if my color code change from above condition.
    please help....

    1. Hi PRATIK,

      To highlight one cell if another falls withing a certain month, you can create a rule with the following formula:

      =MONTH($A2)=1

      Where A2 is the top-most cell in the dates column and 1 is the month (Jan in this example).

  15. One revision to the document that I believe would be helpful is to explain the relationship between the "Applies to" range and the row number to use in a formula.

    For example, if you had selected $A$2:$E$8 then the first row of the range is 2 and your formula should reference cells in row 2 such as $A2, $C2, etc. If you use a row number other than 2 then your formula will be relative to the row it's running on. For example, using $C1 in a formula will reference the value from column C in the previous row and using $C3 will reference the value from column C in the row below the row for the cell the formula is being evaluated on.

    The columns are also relative which is why we always use $C2 and not C2 without the leading $. If you were to use C2 in a formula then the excel will fetch data from a cell that both column and row relative to the cell that it's evaluating the formula on. The relative distance is based on the column and row of the upper-left cell in the applies-to range.

    Related to this is if while writing a formula you click on cell C2 then Excel inserts the address in your formula as $C$2. This means Excel will always reference cell C2 regardless of what cell it's evaluating when processing condition formulas.

    Once you understand how this works then can take advantage of it by having the formatting of a range of cells controlled by one of:
    * A single cell ($C$2).
    * Cells in a fixed column relative to the current row ($C2).
    * Cells in a fixed row relative to the current column (C$2).
    * Cells in columns and rows both relative to the current cell (C2).

  16. I am currently having an issue with a format. I have column G (cells 4-20) that have a name populated. I am querying a rotating list of names that populate in column L (typically go down to row 60 or farther). If even one of the names from column G populate in a single row of column L, I would like that row (using L2 as an example) A2:M2 to be highlighted blue.

    This has been truly frustrating. Please tell me if there is a fix.

  17. Hi Svetlana

    I have 1 empty colum with fill by any color but when i put anything the color will be disappear, please help me to solve the problem.

  18. Hi Svetlana

    I have a large data set in a single column that I want to apply conditional formatting to.

    Data in cells A1 and A2 are duplicates, A3 and A4 are duplicates and so on...
    I want to format cells were one member of the duplicate differs from the other by more than 1 or less than -1.

    This formula: =OR(SUM(A1-A2)>=1,SUM(A1-A2)<=-1) works. But if i use it in conditional formatting on the entire column it pairs [A1 with A2] then [A2 with A3] and [A3 with A4] and so on... Giving me analysis between cells which are not duplicates.

    I want the formula to be applied only to 'every other' row?
    Can you help? Thanks in advance.

  19. Hello,
    I need to conditional format cells based on a changing value.

    B20 contains a percentage that changes each day (30%, 35%, 40%, etc).
    I want cells G23:G37 to conditional format if they are equal to value in B20, within 5% of B20, above B20, and below B20.

    Do I need a separate rule for each set of criteria I have or can I combine into one formula line?

  20. Hi
    I am having a hard time getting some conditional formatting to work, maybe you can help..??
    I have a spreadsheet with columns of data
    What I want to do is apply a rule to a column, or various columns, that will highlight the cell of a a manually entered figure orange, and leave the cells that contain a formula unaltered.
    thanks in advance

  21. hye, I want to ask about how to highlight green for passed and red for failed based on another cell result? mind if you can show me the way? thankyou

    1. Hi Husna,

      Simply select the column(s) you want to highlight and create a rule with the formula that references another cells. For example:

      Green: =$A2="passed"
      Red: =$A2="failed"

  22. Hi Svetlana

    I would like to highlight cells in a column where the corresponding cells in an adjacent row return a formula error (#N/A). Can this be done with conditional formatting?

    Thank you.
    Ruth

    1. Hi Ruth,

      You can create a rule with a formula similar to =ISNA($A2) where A2 is first row with data in the column that contains #N/A errors.

  23. Hi !
    How can I creat a conditional formating with a formula I have in a cell of another sheet of the same document? or How can I use the same formula that for conditional formating in another part of the document?

    Thank you
    Mary

  24. Dear Madam,

    I am preparing a attendance sheet but I have some confusion with this sheet because I want if a personnel make holiday at Saturday and Monday to I can acquire 3 absent but I design sheet with A for absent and P for Present to that is why I have to face problem I am continuously thinking and applying but still I am unable to get rid of this hindrance kindly help me out.

    many thanks.

  25. i have a sheet with a matrix of users and whether they have access to a security role (roles are columns, names are rows, values are Yes/No). I want to use conditional formatting to compare this to a matrix of classes and highlight where the user's roles differ from the class they are assigned to. is this possible? i tried using a vlookup formula in a rule, and it didn't seem to work. Any thoughts?

  26. i have a sheet with a matrix of users and whether they have access to a security role (roles are columns, names are rows, values are Yes/No). I want to use conditional formatting to compare this to a matrix of classes and highlight where the user's roles differ from the class they are assigned to. is this possible? i tried using a vlookup formula in a rule, and it didn't seem to work. Any thoughts?

  27. Sorry to bother you, but have been trying to get this to work for ages. I have what will eventually be a large table of data. Column A is a word and B to O are a mix of numbers and words.
    I need the following to make the cell in column A to be filled say, green if certain criteria are met, orange if others and red if others.
    I can't even get the green section to work. This is what I have so far:

    I highlight either A2 or B2 to O2 (it doesn't seem to matter what I highlight, nothing works)then enter this:
    =and(D2<20, E2<55, F2<50, G2=Low, h2=Nil, j2<15, k2<20, m2<100, 0270 for red, G2 = high for red etc.
    If it's impossible to have the other two colours working in conjunction that's fine, even having the green working will be a great help.

    Thanks in advance if you can get to it,
    regards Liz

  28. How to use text formula in conditional format

    ex:7/25/2015
    7/26/2015
    7/27/2015
    7/28/2015
    7/29/2015
    7/30/2015
    on the above date i want to highlight saturday and sunday by using text(a2,"dddd") with conditional foramt, pls helm me.

    Thank in advance
    Chandra shekhar

  29. Hello-

    I have read through all of the questions on this page and didn’t see this specific question asked. I would greatly appreciate your assistance!

    I have an excel worksheet- starting in column and row D6 (start date), E6 (End date), and F6 (Frequency). Across the rows at the top we have weeks starting in column and row G4, H4, I4, etc = (July 13, July 20, July 27), etc.

    My first conditional format- to color in the weeks where a communication was sent, worked. That formula was: =AND(G$4$D6) and it applied to: =$G$6:$AM$38

    This worked well for the rows with the frequency of daily or weekly. Where we are struggling with is conditionally formatting rows to fill cells with monthly repetition.

    Currently, the formula I have: =AND(G$4$D7) is for a specific row i.e. applies to: =$G$7:$AN$7 and this highlights the specific cell that corresponds to the week of the first date that the communication was sent out.

    My first question:

    1) How do I create a specific conditional formatting rule using the =AND(G$4$D7) formula that fills in a cell every 30 days or 1 month and also corresponds to the correct week, leaves the remainder of the cells blank for that row, and that also ends when the end date in column E says? Will I have to have 2 separate formulas for each row with a monthly frequency? One for filling in the cells, the other for shading the remainder blank? Also, I should be able to specify in one rule that the formula applies to row 7, 10, 15, 22 for example in the “Applies to” section without having to make a new rule for each row, correct?
    2) What is the order in the rules manager that these rules should be placed? Should the original formula for all cells be placed at the top or bottom?

    Thank you in advance for the help.

  30. Using conditional formatting to highlight calender dates.
    Currently if I receive a document on the 1st July, I have to contractually respond within 10 working days. I am using an Icon set to say Green when plenty of time changing to red 3 days before I have to reply.
    My problem is once I reply (the date is recorded in another column) I want the Traffic lights to disappear complete. HOW can I do this????

  31. Hi. I am struggling with trying to resolve the icon sets when the data is Zero. I string 7 months of data to compare month to month. I am using the reverse icon when we have a drop in a bad measure. Normally, there is a numerator and denominator. However, on the months where we have consecutive Zero numerators, the icons do not show and only show "0" which I cannot resolve to just be a neutral (no change/yellow arrow). Any suggestions?

  32. Having a prob with conditional format. I tried using the following formula:
    =((M15-K15)/K15)>10%
    If it is true then turn the cell to yellow.
    #1 It is not turning that cell to yellow.
    #2 If I copy the conditional formula to a cell on the SS to verify it shows as true so it is valid.
    #3 After I get the correct formula how is it applied to a column because right now it always wants to reference the same line.
    =((M15-K15)/K15)>10%

    Thanks!

  33. Hi Svetlana.

    I managed to SOLVE my problem.
    The trick was to format the cells with a partial border, i.e. leaving the left side blank. Now everything is fine and working.

    I wish you all the best.
    Enzo

  34. Hi There:
    I'm working on this project that I use the conditional formatting to change the color of the cell that is doing the calculations. Unfortunately they have changed the requirements and they want me to add another cell that will change its color when the other two cells change there's. for instance if Column A turns red and column B turn green then column C has to turn red. If A and B are both green then C will turn green(if one of the A or B is red then C will always be Red). When the column C turns red it has to display Fail and when Column C is green it has to display Pass. Can we make this in excel? Any feedback will be deeply appreciated.

  35. This site is great! I read through many of the comments and couldn't find anything like this, but it may have already been discussed. I have a column with cities and an adjacent column with states. There are different cities with the same name in several states- Springfield, for example. I want to highlight Springfield, MO in one color and Springfield, IL a different color. Can I create a conditional format that will say: when Cell Q="Springfield" and Cell R="MO", Cell Q should be green. Then if Cell Q = "Springfield" and Cell R= "IL", Cell Q should be blue. Thank you for your assistance!

    1. Hi Helen,

      Of course, you can create such a rule, e.g.
      Green: =AND($Q2="Springfield", $R2="MO")

      You can even list several cities in the first condition so that you won't have to create a separate rule for each city, e.g.

      Green: =AND(OR($Q2="Springfield", $Q2="city2", $Q2="city3"), $R2="MO")

      1. This is pretty close to the formula I was already using and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working! I played around with it a little and after I changed from $Q2 and $R2 to $Q1 and $R1, it worked! Thank you for your help.

  36. Dear Svetlana,
    first of all let me congratulate you for this excellent blog.

    And now to my question:
    My worksheet is composed of 26 columns and 81 rows.
    Column A contains a list of items and column B their price; column Y the total number of items in stock and column Z the number of items to be put on sale.
    Row 1 is a heading.

    Cells C2:V2 contain numbers 1 to 20. Cells C3:V81 are empty and should be conditionally formatted, based on the following criteria:

    if the number above each cell (C2:V2) is less or equal to the corresponding value of cell Z of the cell's row then that cell must receive a border. Of course, the formatting should change when the value in column Z changes.

    I have already tried different methods that seem to work, at least partially (e.g. a formula such as =C$2<=$Z3). The problem is that when te values in Z decrease the borders don't disappear; instead the (now) empty cells keep a double-line vertical border. What am I doing wrong? Is it possible to end with a "clean" sheet without going for a macro?

    I hope you can answer me and in the meantime I thank you very much.
    Enzo

  37. Thanks a lot to you and Google aswell

  38. Thank you for a fantastic resource, I'm an inexperienced Excel user but your tutorials have really developed my skills. However, I'm struggling with conditional formatting.

    I have a worksheet which calculates gross margins. I'd like to be able to highlight rows where the margin falls below a set level. However the cells that hold the margin contain a formula (=IF(F2=0, "", F2-M2/F2) rather than a value. It is the result of this formula that is the margin.

    Please could you advise how I can make the formatting conditional on the result of the formula?

    1. Hi Helen,

      I'm glad to know our tutorials have proved helpful. In conditional formatting, it does not really matter if a cell contains a value typed manually or returned by some formula. So, you can create a rule based on a simple formula similar to this:
      =$C2<10

      Where C2 is the cell with your margin formula and 10 is a "set level".

      1. Hi, thanks for the speedy reply. I wondered if that was the case but I've not had any success.

        If I set it to =$N2<50 it highlights every row except those that are blank regardless of the value returned. This is why I thought that maybe it was different for formulas.

        1. Helen,

          It's very strange because the rule worked perfectly on my test sheet. Please make sure it applies to a range beginning in row 2, for example A2:N100.

          If the problem persists, you can send a sample workbook to our support team (support@ablebits.com) and we will try to figure it out.

          1. Helen,

            I'm posting the formula here just in case my message does not reach you for some reason. Because the Gross Profit column displays percentages, the conditional rule formula should be written for percentage as well. Once you change it to =$N2<50%, the rule will work perfectly.

  39. Hi Svetlana, Firstly well done on an excellent page and very helpful explanations. I recently came across an auditing spreadsheet where you had questions to answer and the option to select a colour/text from a drop down menu on each scoring cell, in this case Blue, Green Yellow and Red. The spreadsheet then added the number of e.g. RED cells and produced a score. I have not been able to determine how they did this because the spreadsheet was protected. If I have asked the question clearly enough, can you guide me please?

    1. Hi Laurie,

      Thanks so much for your kind words.Most likely the colored cells are counted with a macro, may be something like this one. Anyways, it's difficult to say anything with confidence without seeing the source data.

  40. Hello Svetlana,

    I have 2 columns, first (G) with the Status, validated list, Red, Amber, Green, Closed. On the second column (H), I have % of completion. On H I need to used Data Bars, but the colour needs to be the one described in G column. For Closed will be blue. Can you help me do it?

    Thank you,
    Marius

  41. hi,
    I want to put a statement in excel and want to add a specific value reference in between the statement as "today total sale is .........( reference of cell B15) and purchase is ....( REference of cell C51). is it possible if yes how????

    1. Hi Kawal,

      You don't need the conditional formatting for this task. You can use the CONCATENATE function or the & operator as follows:
      ="today total sale is "&B15
      =CONCATENATE("purchase is ", C51)

  42. Hi,
    I want to highlight cell which has specified value. Like if there are 1 to 10 nos. i want to highlight only 3, 2, 7. which formula do i use. Please help

  43. Great article but can't find exactly what I'm looking for.

    I want to make a formula that will look at a whole column, say the B column, in one sheet and see if there are any "No" entries. If there are ANY "No" entries, I want it to change the colour of a cell, say the A1 cell, in another sheet.

    I have a crude formula here, using a "TRUE" statement instead of colouring the cell and also giving the range 1-9999 which is ugly: =ISNUMBER(SEARCH("No",Sheet2!B1:B9999))=TRUE

    I hope this makes sense and would be really grateful of any response!

    1. Hi Johnny,

      I think you can create a rule with a formula similar to this:
      =COUNTIF(Sheet2!B:B, "no")>0

      1. Aha! Perfect! Thank you ever so much

  44. I've been working on a sales target spreadsheet that has normal formulas & then also using conditional formatting.

    In one part of the spreadsheet we are calculating the variance between 2 cells, ie E14-F14 this formula is in cell G14 (figures are 4-4=0). My conditional formatting for all the cells is
    =AND(COUNT(B6),B6>=0) set so if the variance is positive the cell will be green
    =AND(COUNT(B6),B6<0) set so if the variance is negative the cell will be red

    now this conditional formatting making cell G14 red, when we want it to be green. This happening for the cells in column G that have the same formula.
    However in all the other columns D, J, M etc if the cell is 1-1=0 the cell will be colored green.

    I have removed all the conditional formatting from the excel and inputted again & this hasn't fixed it. I'm not sure what to do next to try & fix this.

    I hope this all makes sense & look forward to a response!

  45. Thank you so much :)

  46. I needed conditional formatting for an excel sheet with growth chart. In this i wanna know which have growth and which have de-growth based on last year sales

  47. Hello! Thanks for the info above.

    Please can you help... I am looking for cell A to look at cell B and for cell A to change colour if the value is...
    Green - less than 10 of the value of B
    Amber - less than 5 of the value of B
    Red - equal to or greater than the value of B.

    The problem being that both B and A will change with data input and B. Hope that makes sense! Thanks in advance for your help.

  48. Hi
    I wondered if you could help me please. I am trying to create a month by month summary of our customer service scores. All i would like to do is to highlight the cell green or red based on whether the score has increased or decreased from the previous month. For exmaple:
    Month Overall
    Oct-14 -100
    Nov-14 18
    Dec-14 -50
    Jan-15 -8
    Feb-15 45
    Mar-15 -2
    Apr-15 30
    May-15 20

    So i would like May's score to be highlighted red because it decreased from April. But April to be highlighted green because it increased from march.

    Thanks

  49. J M K S
    3 2 3 5---------k--?
    76 5 75 7---------k--?
    4 564 76 53--------j--?
    354 34 456 24--------s--?

  50. Hello,
    i have a small dilemma and would appreciate if anyone could help out.

    So i have the following arrangement

    J M K S
    3 2 3 5 k ?
    76 5 75 7 k ?
    4 564 76 53 j ?
    354 34 456 24 s ?

    Were I would like the letters column to be matched to the letters row, and the question marks replaced by the corresponding value under the letters row.
    resulting for example in the following
    k 3
    k 76
    j 4
    s 24

    does anyone know what equation I need to use to substitute the values instead of the question marks?

    Thank you

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