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 5. Total comments: 1709

  1. 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

  2. '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?

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

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. Hi,
    Highlighted Rows filtered and display in the same sheet but deferent cell
    Eg.

    whatever highlighted in A to F should be filtered and display in J to O cell

    thnx

    1. Hi! Excel formulas can't see which rows you've highlighted. You can select a range of rows and work with it using a VBA macro.

  12. I have an excel with two cells. Each cell has a dropdown menu. The first cell has a 'Yes/No' choice, the second cell has five choices, but only ONE of those five is relevant to the 'Yes' choice of the first cell. Can a formula be written so that if 'Yes' is selected in the first cell, the second cell automatically fills in the only relevant choice in the second cell?

    For example:

    Cell 1: Yes/no - I select 'Yes'
    Cell 2: Choices 1-5 - it automatically selects choice 1, the only one that is relevant to 'Yes'

    ALTERNATELY

    Cell 1: Yes/no - I select 'No'
    Cell 2: Choices 1-5 - I select relevant choice from dropdown menu

    Any assistance would be appreciated.

  13. Can you help me about this subject?
    I need a formal If the date is old or identical to today's date
    , the message "Check must be performed" will appear, and if the date is in the future or equal to today's date, the same date will appear

  14. I have a colum with Reserved time| Pick up time| time Difference.
    i need to determine if the bus is early, on-time, or delayed (within the +/-30minute window how do I do a formula that selects early, on-time or delayed base on the +/-30 minute condition.

  15. I have a small database consisting of numbers from 10 to 20 that are scattered in the range(B3:F9 FOR EXAMPLE)
    Now, I want to format the top 3 numbers , so I used the TOP/BOTTOM RULES command, but what it is, it formats 5 numbers!!! for me, all of which are 20!!!WHATS WRONG?!!!!!!! While I expected numbers 19 and 18 to be highlighted

  16. Thanks a lot for this articles. It saved me a lot of time for solving a conditional formatting issue !
    By the way, I have been using the Ablebits Add-in since 3 years. It works great and heped me increasing my productivity a lot :)

  17. I am trying to use the same formula for multiple lines, example: =$H$5=$G$5 APPLIES TO =$A$5:$H$5. I want it to continue down each row and keeping the column references the same but changing the row reference. Is there an easy way to do this without writing the formula every time? (NEXT ROW WOULD BE =$H$6=$G$6 APPLIES TO =$A$6:$H$6

  18. I have an excel sheet with columns label years, 2000 , 2001, 2002, 2003 all the way to 2015 with lets say high temperature values. Going down the rows are days 1 , 2, 3 ect... so now I want to find the highest temperature across they years. So now lets say I found that it is 33.5C in over 15yrs (Using the MAx function) ... i now would want to find in which year that temperature value occurred ... example 33.5C occurred in 2010... But I would want that to be displayed in a column on its own.. can that be done?

  19. hi dear
    im using this formula =IF(AE4=""؛AD4؛AE4)
    when there isnt formula inside those cells(ad4 nd ae4) it work perfect but when I use formula inside those cells it dont work .(im using xlookup for gathering data for these cells)
    I want to use value of ae4 if its not empty other wise if its empty or blank or ziro i want to choice ad4 data
    plz help me

    1. Hi! If I understand correctly, you are trying to write this formula in cells AE4 and AD4. This creates circular references because the formula cannot reference itself. Choose a non-empty value inside the XLOOKUP formula.

  20. Hello, I work for a company that has approximately 400 agents.

    I am looking to create an Excel spreadsheet that can verify when an agent has gone past a certain time frame (when replying to a guest by email), and if possible, conditional formatting the time between receiving the email and responding to it.

    The idea is to verify if the agents are replying on time and to check, as a quality assurance department, how often this happens during the month.

    However, I am not sure how to create a formula for email threads that are in, for instance, outlook.

  21. I want to put a formula on an entire column without having to put that formula in a cell and dragging it down as I go.

    I want to put the invoice amount in column A and have column B automatically put the amount without tax (5%). I tried highlighting column B and making a new rule with conditional formatting using a formula of =SUM($A1/1.05). If I put $105 in the cell in column A I want column B to autofill the adjacent cell with $100 (the amount without tax).

    Right now nothing at all is coming up in column B when I put an amount in column A.

    What am I doing wrong? How do I apply a formula to an entire column with out dragging it down as I go?

    Thanks!

  22. Hi! I'm building a workbook that tracks employee performance which will (based on drop-down list selection) display a list of performance metrics/goals and subsequent ranges for achieving performance ratings (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). I'm utilizing IF, VLOOKUP and IFS functions to identify which goals and ranges to display. The goals and ranges are housed in another sheet on the same workbook. For the metric, the reference formula looks like this: =IF($G$3="","",IF(VLOOKUP($G$3,Goals!$Z$3:$AG$9,5)=0,"",VLOOKUP($G$3,Goals!$Z$3:$AG$9,5))). For each cell returning the ranges for which performance results fall, I'm using: =IF($N$3="","",(IFS($G$3=Goals!$B$16,Goals!$I$17,$G$3=Goals!$B$2,Goals!$I$3,$G$3=Goals!$B$23,Goals!$I$24,$G$3=Goals!$B$30,Goals!$I$31,$G$3=Goals!$B$9,Goals!$I$10,$G$3=Goals!$B$44,Goals!$I$45,$G$3=Goals!$B$37,Goals!$I$38))).

    Since each Metric may vary in Format (i.e., Number, Percentage, Custom ([h]:mm:ss)), I'm wanting to use Conditional Formatting to change the Number Format of the range of cells pulling back performance ranges. The only way I've had success in doing this is to create Conditional Formatting based the values returned from the IF/IFS formula above. My issue is that the performance ranges aren't necessarily static, so I would prefer a method that could simply apply the appropriate Number Format based on the goal type returned from the IF/VLOOKUP formula (which is located in a Merged cell above the two columns where the ranges return. This would allow for the appropriate formatting to match the source based on the header.

    I'm not using an Inserted Table, because I need to Protect most of the document. Also, I've attempted using the "Use a formula..." Rule Type, but it isn't applying the desired Number Format. I've also tried applying General as the Format for the range of cells with which I'm having the issue.

    Is there a way to build Conditional Formatting that controls only the Number Format of a desired range based upon a heading derived from a VLOOKUP in a separate row from the desired range?

    Thank you!

    1. Hi! Unfortunately, your explanation is not very clear. However, I recommend to pay attention to the CELL function. With info_type "format" you can get the format code of the cell.

      1. I will read about the CELL function and see if I can use the format code to properly format the cells.

        Apologies for the unclear explanation. Essentially, the range of cells I'm trying to Conditionally Format would return references based on a header. Depending on which header, the returned data should appear with the appropriate Number Format. For instance, one header should return data as a Percentage, another should return it as a Number with no decimals, and yet another should return as Customer [h]:mm:ss.

        I hope that clears up what I'm trying to do. Thanks!

        1. I'm going to guess that you can use the recommendations from the article above and, for example, this formula for each type of formatting:

          =OR(A1="ABC",A1="DEF")

          Specify in this formula all possible values at which the percentage format, for example, should be applied.

  23. Hello,

    I have the following formula to format cells in column E. Idea is that they are coloured red when the values in column D and E met the conditions as stated in the formula (both textual values):

    =AND($D3="Noodzakelijk";$E3="Niet gestart")

    I also tried many other ways, including:

    =AND($D3="Noodzakelijk",$E3="Niet gestart")

    but Excel doesn't recognise this as a formula because of the komma.

    Any idea how to solve this?

    Rows 1 and 2 contain headers btw.

    1. Pls I want to apply 3 different colour codes to an entire column based on their values but referencing from another particular cell. Using conditional formatting, it is getting only colour from the first cell of that column

    2. Hi! Your conditional formatting formula works if you apply conditional formatting to a range of cells starting on row 3. For example, D3:E100

  24. Hope you can help....believe this is simple but still scratching my head.
    Trying to format a column of cells based on another cell text value. For example; If B10="Higher" conditional format cells in range B15:B25 and highlight the cell (single) that has the highest numeric value in that range. And if B10="Lower", conditional format the cells in range B15:B25 and highlight the cell that has the lowest numeric value. Note; the range my contain more than one higher or lower cells and i would want them to format also.

    thanks

    -Mxc

  25. Hi there

    I really hope you can help ... I'm trying to use conditional formatting to change text colour based on comparing the values in two columns. There are four rules I'll need to apply using different formulas for each:

    FORECAST - NOT BOOKED: if the value in column C is higher than zero, and the value in column D is zero then make the text colour blue
    FORECAST - UNDERBOOKED: if the value in column C is higher than zero, and the value in column D is less than the value in column C then make the text colour purple
    FORECAST - OVERBOOKED: if the value in column C is higher than zero, and the value in column D is more than the value in column C then make the text colour red
    NOT FORECAST - BOOKED: if the value in column C is zero, and the value in column D is higher than zero then make the text colour orange

    Fingers and everything crossed you can help. Thank you so very much in advance!!

    Best regards
    Lynne

    1. Hi! I hope you have studied the recommendations in the tutorial above. It contains answers to all your questions. Use the AND function to test both conditions. For example,

      =AND(C1>0,D1=0)

      1. Yeah, that's the formula I was using but I'd selected the actual row number i.e. C4 rather than C1 and it wasn't working. I've now changed it to C1 and it works!!

        Thank you for your advice and clarity!!

        Kind regards
        Lynne

  26. Hello,
    I am trying to highlight column J values for the following condition:

    If all cells on C1:I1 are blank highlight J1.
    However, I want this applied to the whole table not just one row. Ex If C2:I2 cells are blank highlight J2.
    Is there a way to do this through conditional formatting?

      1. Thank you so much!!! It worked!

  27. Hi!

    I have a two part question that may go beyond conditional formatting capabilities, but though I might give it a shot. Essentially, I am using Excel to track training records for our company. We have 25 documents we train to, each with a different revision (they are periodically updated). Every person has the date and the revision of each document input into this spreadsheet. I was able to get the revision column to conditionally format properly (highlighting red) by comparing their latest trained revision to the latest revision released through the formula "=D4D$3", where D4 (and D5, D6, etc.) is the employees latest training and D3 is the revision of the latest released version of the document. This formula will be repeated 25 times, hence the non-absolute values except for row 3. My questions are:

    1. Next to these revision columns, I have the date the employees completed the training. Can I format these columns to highlight red based on the revision comparison? For example, in column C, I have the date of training for the document noted above (in column D). I made a formula the following formula to highlight cells red: "=D4D$3". However, nothing happens with this formula. Can you condition one cell based on comparison of values (in this case text) in two different cells?

    2. The first column is the person names. Not super necessary, but it would be nice if I could highlight the person's name based on the outcome of the formatting in the subsequent columns as described in the first paragraph above. Essentially, at a quick glance I'd like to be able to look at a person's name, and know they are missing updated training to one of the documents. Not sure how I would make the formula, but maybe an IF statement with a bunch of ORs comparing the employee's revision to latest revision (as seen in row 3 as mentioned in the first paragraph above). Is this a possibility?

    Let me know if there's anything I need to clarify in the query above.

    Thanks,

    1. Hi!
      If I understood correctly, select the range C4:C29 and apply the conditional formatting rule =D4<>$D$3 to it.
      I hope this will help.

  28. Hello,
    When I try to write the following conditional formatting with "Use a formula to determine which cells to format" I always get that standard warning message "There's a problem with this formula. Not trying to type a formula? ....."

    =AND(G11=6,M11=1800)

    I want to format M11 cell with green color by above conditional formatting.

  29. Can i make a formula that if a digit is greater than my fixed digit one column text will be highlighted automatically?

  30. Hi Alexander Trifuntov,
    I want one entire row to show from among the drop downs based on the values entered in another cell.
    I have drop downs 1. Below 100, 2. 100-110, Now I want an entire column cells to display the above result based on the values entered in another cell.
    ( ex. I have drops downs in H column with the above mentioned criteria, now I want these to come up automatically based on the values entered in Column G) If 89 is entered in Column G then Column H must show Below 100.

    Kindly help, I would be highly obliged.

  31. Hello, I have a conditional formatting formula set in my data in which specific cells highlight in red based on input of another cell in another column, the formula is =$AB3"". I want the red highlight to be removed once data is entered in the cells. I think the isblank formula can be used in this case but I cant seem to find the way. Would anyone please advise? Thank you very much

    1. Hi!
      To check if a cell is not empty, you can use this formula:

      =NOT(ISBLANK($AB3))

      Hope this is what you need.

  32. I am hoping you can help me! I have googled and even asked a friend that is good with excel but still can't get an answer. I have a pivotable that I am Conditional Formatting with "Highlight is equal to 0" and the second conditional formatting is fill in with black if it is Blank. I put both of these in and one worked and the other wouldn't save. I went to manage formatting rules and only one was there so I used the "New Rule" from that screen and when I clicked "OK" to go back to manage formatting rules screen from formatting screen, the rule disappears. I can't seem to get it to stay long enough to hit "Apply". This has happened before and now it is happening. I have noticed both times, I was only formatting 2 columns of the pivot table.

    Also, I tried to format the top cell and copy it down and it will only use one of the rules and not both. The second disappears.

    So my question is there a way to trick the system into keeping both rules? When I do other sheets that have 4 columns formatted it does fine.

    Thanks for any insight!

  33. Hello,

    I have three columns (G, H, & I) with drop down selection of 1-4. I want the cell in column J to be grey unless any of the cells in column G, H, or I are less than 2 but not blank. (i.e if column G & I are blank, and H is 3 or 4 column J is greyed out, but if H is 2 or 1, J is not greyed out.) Could you help me on this?

      1. That worked, THANKS!

  34. Hello!

    I have a table with list of Price of Chemicals by Month.
    Some prices on particular month cells have been highlighted in Light Yellow.
    I would like to know if can use Conditional Formatting to identify those cells highlighted in Light Yellow.
    I managed to get a link and tried but it does not work, do you have a better one, please.

    "This can be accomplished with a user-defined function. First, create the function to identify the fill color of the cell:
    Function IdentifyColor(CellToTest As range)
    'Returns R + (256 * G) + (65536 * B)
    'IdentifyColor = 255 for red, 65280 for green, etc.
    IdentifyColor = CellToTest.Interior.Color
    End Function
    Then create a conditional format formula for cell A5 based on this formula: =IdentifyColor(B5)=65280
    It may be easier to use HEX2DEC to specify colors. Therefore, the formula would become: =IdentifyColor(B5)=HEX2DEC("00FF00")"

  35. Hi there,

    I'm trying to condition individual cells ( that contain an average of another data set ) to be shaded/filled based on its amount compared to a single other cell.

    Here's what I have so far, and it's doing nothing so far:

    Formula= "$H$26 > $J$26"

    If this statement is true, it should be shaded green - however, it is doing nothing! Help!!

  36. How do I apply conditional formatting to show me if data in a cell is not in a specific format e.g. Time column should be in the Time format 13:30

  37. Hi. I'm trying to apply a conditional format on a column based on another column's text; yes to the whole column. I saw that in that case you could use $B:$B (for example) for setting that column that you will use as reference. My conditional format looks like this:

    Style: Classic
    Use a formula to determine which cells to format
    =$B:$B="Pago Tarjeta Credito Cash Rewards"
    Format with: Custom Format. AaBbCcYyZz (text in red, no fill)

    Applies to: $A:$A

    Although I don't get any error notifications, I just can make it work. I already tried your way, checking first if I have headers or something in the first row that could interfere with the formula and based on that I changed the formula to (My data has headers and some notes on the first two rows):

    Style: Classic
    Use a formula to determine which cells to format
    =$B3="Pago Tarjeta Credito Cash Rewards"
    Format with: Custom Format. AaBbCcYyZz (text in red, no fill)

    Applies to: $A:$A

    But it still doesn't work...Can you try to tell me what I'm doing wrong?

    Thanks.

    1. Hi!
      If you apply conditional formatting to an entire column, use a reference to the cell in the first row in the formula. For example:

      =$B1="Pago Tarjeta Credito Cash Rewards"

      I hope this will help.

  38. How can I conditionally format a dependent drop down list level 2 when drop down list level 1 is selected that has values in level 2? I want for the level 2 dropdown cell to change background color when I've selected a value in level 1 dropdown, alerting me that there are further values to select.

  39. How would I apply color bar formatting to a range of cells, but with that formatting based on the value of a DIFFERENT range of cells?

    I have several cells containing text, and I want to highlight those cells by color from best to worst to make it easy for people to see which is better without needing intimate knowledge of the field. However there is no way for Excel to know which string of text should be 'best' and 'worst'. So for example, if I was comparing the material a tool was made from and wanted to highlight the cells showing which material was better or worse than others:

    A
    1 Titanium
    2 Plastic
    3 Wood
    4 Stainless Steel

    I can't just highlight column A and say Conditional Formatting > Color Bars, because Excel can't know which one is better or worse. What I imagine I would need is another column (Column B) containing numbers from 1-4 which indicate what I determine to be best to worse, and that the conditional formatting applied to the text cells in Column A is based on the values in Column B.

    How can I do this please? Bear in mind that it's possible that the data source I've put into Column B would not necessarily be in a neighboring column or not necessarily even in the same row.

    Thanks!

  40. Need a conditional Formatting Formula
    I have a Excel sheet colour in Orange Colour When i Feed the Data in the Cell Days wise
    When i enter the Data or Text it should be changed to Green Colour
    If the Data is Not entered Totay The next day the filed not Entered Value or Data should be Changed to Red Colour

    Kindly provide a solution

  41. I'm looking to have conditional formatting that looks for duplicates between a set of cells on one sheet and the set of cells on another sheet, both sheets are in the same workbook. I already know how to pull data from one sheet to another but would like to format the data pulled to look for duplicate from a set of cells on the same sheet it is pulling data from.

    For example I have a sheet that pulls a drivers name from a specific cell using formula:

    ='DAY PLAN'!H10

    but I would like to have it where if the driver is also working a PM shift listed in another sheet I would like the name to show up with the conditional formatting. I have tried using "Format only unique or duplicate values" Rule is set to Format all duplicate values in the selected range. I want the applies to formula to be:

    =$D$11:$F$21:='DAY PLAN'!$R$2:$S$32

    but when I hit apply, it changes to:

    =$D$11:$F$21

    I have also tried to enter it with these formulas with no luck:

    =$D$11:$F$21:'DAY PLAN'!$R$2:$S$32

    -or-

    ='195'!$D$11:$F$21:='DAY PLAN'!$R$2:$S$32

    -or-

    ='195'!$D$11:$F$21:'DAY PLAN'!$R$2:$S$32

    -or-

    ='DAY PLAN'!$R$2:$S$32:='195'!$D$11:$F$21

    -or-

    ='DAY PLAN'!$R$2:$S$32:'195'!$D$11:$F$21

    Thanks in advance!

    1. Hello!
      Perhaps this tutorial will be helpful to you: How to highlight duplicate cells and rows in Excel.
      However, we have a solution that will solve your problem in a couple of clicks. I recommend the Compare tables tool, which helps you find duplicates and unique values in any two data sets: tables, columns, or lists.
      It is available as a part of our Ultimate Suite for Excel that you can install in a trial mode and check how it works for free.

      1. Thanks, got it figured out

  42. how can we get the top 1 record for more than 100 rows (each top 1 record for each row need to be highlighted)

  43. I have setup rules format the fill in cell B4 based on values of K4 and L4 and want to quickly copy that to the lower rows so "B" cell references the corresponding "K" and "L" cells. I tried to format paint but it kept everything referencing K4 and L4.

  44. Thank you for your amazing blog and excel knowledge. The answer may already be in here but I'm still struggling. I am trying to hightlight cells where the employee made less than $1000.00 but not if there is a "s/f " in the comments section or "not available" in hte4 comments section or alternatively it can be if the word "ok" is in the comment section. So less than $1000.00 and have been "ok'd" by management:

    TOTAL GROSS PAY OVER/UNDER FLEET MGR COMMENTS
    1,112.51 112.51 Kevin
    749.44 -250.56 Kevin ok
    963.38 -36.62 Corey ok
    1,027.34 27.34 Corey
    884.58 115.42 Corey ok
    825.84 -174.16 Corey ok
    854.60 -145.40 Corey not available
    997.32 -2.68 Corey S/F 84319

  45. I hope you can help me, I am having trouble getting the formula correct.
    I want to use conditional formatting to change the color of the cell if for example cell J61 is todays date and J61 contains the text investigation. Can you please help me get the formula correct? I tried the below formula but it does not work

    =AND($J61=TODAY(), $L61="Lab Assessment – Phase I Investigation")

  46. Is it Possible to do this in tandem with a color scale formatting? For example, I'd like to use a color scale based on the values in column A, but I'd like to highlight the entire row based on those values. The one way I can see is by manually making a color scale saying if the value in A is 1 use dark grey, if 2 use a lighter grey, if 3 an even lighter gray, etc... But that's one rule for each possible value in column A. Anyway to do it in maybe two formatting conditions?

      1. Unfortunately I've tried that forum and haven't had luck. Do you know if there's a way to set the formatting of one cell equal to the formatting of another? Or at least the coloring?

  47. Hello Team,

    I am using Excel 2010. I want to know if it is possible to highlight multiple columns (same row) if cell values in sequential order (e.g numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. The numbers follow an increasing pattern (1, 2, 3…).

    Sample
    2 11 12 13 14 15 29 33 48 55
    8 9 10 17 26 27 28 32 43 50
    5 9 18 24 30 31 32 42 54 58

    Need outcome result (in Highlight as following)
    11 12 13 14 15
    8 9 10 26 27 28
    30 31 32

    I have tried following conditional formatting formula (outcome : this formula only Highlight certain values)

    =A1+1=B1

    Please assist me with the correct conditional formatting formula? Thank you!

    1. Hello!
      Please try the following conditional formatting formula:

      =(A1=OFFSET(A1,0,-1)+1)+(A1=OFFSET(A1,0,1)-1)

      You can learn more about OFFSET function in Excel in this article on our blog.

      1. Hello Alex,

        Thank you so much for the reply!

        The formula worked like a charm.
        OFFSET function was awesome.

        Thank you for making such informative website!

  48. I am using the graded 3-color scale with percentages, 0 50, and 100. For some reason, the color will not change when entering a percentage. This is a long running spreadsheet, and it always worked in the past. I copy the cells to a new cell, as I always have done but I can't see why now it isn't working. In this example, the cell location is $M$505. The formatting is the same for the previous cells, but it won't work.

    1. Hi!
      When you copy a cell, its formatting is copied too. You can remove the conditional formatting where you copy the values.

  49. I have an issue, I have a data field that goes up mostly 1 number at a time which is the delivery drop numbers and I'm trying to fill every other drop with a coloured background. Complex bit is it may go 1, 2, 3, 5,6,8,10 as certain things don't pull through. So would be looking at Column C. each number would have multiple rows.

    Do you have any advice as still self teaching Excel.

    1. Hi!
      Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

      1. So in column B we have delivery drop numbers.

        1
        1
        1
        1
        2
        2
        2
        3
        3
        5
        5
        5
        6
        8

        The rows are populated with info related to the delivery, but the drop numbers above as an example go up each time but not always by 1. I'm trying to make every row of each number fill with light grey to seperate each delivery on the paperwork when printed as a visual aid.

          1. Amazing, it works really well. You sir are an Excel Genius :)

  50. Hi! I'm using Conditional Formatting to highlight ranges of cells using different colors based on age range, for example I want to highlight cells between 6months,0days to 8months,31days red; 9months,0days to 11months,31days orange, and 12months,0days to 14months,31days yellow; etc.
    In doing so, a couple issues are presenting:
    1. Not all cells within the age range are highlighting, and
    2. Ages that fall in different ranges are highlighting in the incorrect color.

    Will you be able to help me with this please? Thank you.

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