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 8. Total comments: 1719

  1. Hi I have a small problem with my Conditional Formatting.

    So the formula itself works, the color changes to gray whenever any text I type manually contains letters SD (it's only example).
    However it only works, whenever I type the text manually - let's say if I type SD12345 the text will turn gray.

    If I copy and paste the text from notepad or somewhere else, it suddenly doesn't work.
    However my other, normal formula (not CF) to autofill text in another cells, based on text with letters SD works perfectly fine.

    So if B2 for example contains text SD12345, C2 will autofill text with text "Apple" for example. I wanted B2 to also turn gray however it doesn't work whenever I copy this text from other source and having 500+ values it's getting pretty time consuming to type everything.

    I can't post a CF formula right now as it's on my work computer but I hope you get the idea.

    1. Hi!
      When you copy and paste, you are also copying the formatting of the cell from which you are pasting the value. This cell is excluded from conditional formatting rules. If you use Paste Special - Values then conditional formatting will work.

  2. I am trying to create a formula for out of date training. So basically if someone has completed a training course within 2 years the cell remains green. If they completed the training over 2 years ago the cell turns red letting us know straight away that the person needs re-training asap.

  3. Nice explanation with examples.

  4. Hello
    I am trying to create a condition, what I need is that from the first value 13 cells to the right be colored, how can I place that formula?

    Please i need help

  5. I am trying to format a range of cells (say A1 through R15) based on the dates in two cells contained within that range (say A1 and C1). Since I will be adding rows to the top of the spreadsheet, I want to use relative cell references and not absolute cell references. When I use the formula =TODAY()<8, it works for all cells except for E8:R8.

    On the next range of cells (A18: R25), my formula is =TODAY()<A18 -and today's date equals the value in A18- but the conditional formatting is kicking in when it should not. The cells which contain dates are formatted as dates.

    Can anyone help me with what is going on? Thanks.

      1. Thanks for the help. That formula should have said =TODAY()A8.
        I changed to absolute cell references and it worked. When I add rows to the top of the spreadsheet, the cell references adjust so it continues to work.
        I think one of my problems in understanding this was "the conditional formatting formula must refer to cells in the first row of the conditional formatting range." Once I made sure to keep that in mind, things went a lot smoother.

        Thanks again.

  6. Hi, i am having a problem with this and when i type my formulae in excel then adds extra "

    for example i type

    $A2="Gowallpaper"

    excel saves it as

    ="$A2=""Gowallpaper"""

    have you come across this before ?

    Tim

  7. I want conditional formatting like if cell value is
    Case-1: A1=16, B1=18 then
    C1 should use formula A1*B1

    Case-2: A1=16, B1= (BLANK) then
    C1 should use formula A1*A1
    How can I use two different formulas based on different cell values?

  8. Hi All,

    I have this function:

    ="My Birthday ("&H14&")"

    But it shows the value as My Salary (44927)

    Can I change the formatting within the formula, so that I can get the number(44927) as actual Date i.e. January 1, 2023?

    It'll be really helpful if you can help me out in this

  9. Hello,

    I used the same formula to conditionally format my spreadsheet (=$J2="text"). It worked for the most part but it won't work on certain words.

    =$J2="Food Safety" and =$J2="Packaging Presentation" just won't work. Nothing is getting highlighted on my spreadsheet. I made sure everything was identical to the previous formulas. I spent a lot of time messing around but I cannot get it to work.

    Please Help! Thanks!

  10. team, thijs formala is retrning 00-jan-00 in the return value how to fix but the but the result from where teh data needs to be pulled is in 10/24/2022 fomat

    =VLOOKUP(C5,'[Network Handover Tracker.xlsx]Network Handover Tracker'!$A:$I,9,1)

  11. I have been trying for days to find the answer to this:
    Column A has employee names
    Columns H-AZ have dates entered when training is completed.
    When a training is required I have the cells highlighted in green (not all items H-AZ are required for each employee)
    How can I highlight column A if there is a blank (green) cell in the rest of the worksheet?

    I have only been able to make this formula work for Column H but not the rest of the cells.

  12. Hi, I need your help please with a formula. On my spreadsheet I have Column A that contains 503 employee names in alphabetical order each highlighted a certain color based on trainings they need to complete. Then Columns B through G has a dept name with employee names under it. I am trying to figure out a formula that will update the info in columns b though g based on the info in column a. I've tried searching but having a hard time coming up with the exact formula. PLease help because I have 503 names as of right now and they are adding more all the time.

    Here's a better idea of what i'm needing:
    Column A
    John Smith (highlighted blue)
    Jane Doe (highlighed yellow)
    Bonnie Jones (hightlighted red)

    Column B
    Bonnie Jones
    Column C
    Jane Doe
    Column D
    John Smith

    I want the info in columns b, c, and d to be hightlighted like info in column a.

    Thanks,

    MJ

      1. Thanks! VBA is way out of my experience level.I'm just not getting comfortable using formulas. Thanks!

  13. Hello - I have a conditional formatting question. I have 3 columns. I would like to highlight the cell in column I if the cell in column L is less than the cell in column N. What I have right now is:
    Formula: ="$L4<$N4" and applies to $I:$I - What I have doesn't seem to be working. Any thoughts on what I'm missing?
    Thanks!

    1. Hi!
      The conditional formatting formula must refer to the first row of the formatting range. In your case - on the first row, not on the fourth.

  14. Hi,

    I'm trying to format a cell based on another cell but also based on the value of the cell.

    Example is:

    Product Value

    Water 0.88
    Land 0.90
    Air 0.75

    I would like the Value cell to be highlighted when the result is not within the range for the specific product.

    My formula would go through but it does not format the call.

    I would appreciate help for this. Thank you in advance!

    1. Hi!
      Not enough information to suggest a formula. I recommend the paragraph in the article above - Formulas to compare values. For example, =AND($B2>5, $B2<10)

  15. Hello!

    I am trying to do condtional formatting formula that references two ranges and if one matches I want show it as an error for timetabling in a school.

    Example if Teacher A is in Room 100 they can not be inputted into coverage as they are already assigned during this period.

    The formula I was using was =iferror(indexA1:A5,MatchD3,B1:B5,0)),"Error")

    When i do this in a cell it works however i would like to use condtional formatting as if i use the formula the cell can not be typed into.

    Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks.
    M

    1. Hello!
      To highlight cells in the range D1:D5 that match values in the range B1:B5, use the conditional formatting formula:
      =NOT(ISNA(MATCH(D1,$B$1:$B$5,0)))

      Hope this is what you need.

  16. Hello!

    Can someone explain how do I set the formula based on column A, B, E and F for the cell to determine which color to choose? I tried VLOOKUP but it doesn't work.

    Thank you.

  17. Hi,

    I am wanting to add conditional formatting on a cell if the difference between that cell and the previous cell is >= 10

    For instance:

    IF (b-a) >= 10 then FILL = RED
    also:
    IF (b-a) >= 5 AND <10 then FILL = AMBER

    I can't seem to find the correct formula for this anywhere, are you able to help?

    Many thanks,

  18. Hi Good morning ! Need help on the below
    Cell "A1" has values (Type1/Type2) options to choose based on Drop down Menu
    similarly cell "C1" has values (Option1, Option2, Option3 & Option4) options to choose based on Drop down Menu

    If Cell A1 = Type2, I want cell "C1" to enable to choose values only "Option3 & Option4" (other 2 options should be disabled)
    IF Cell A1 = Type1, I want cell "C1" to enable to choose "Option1, Option2, Option3 & Option4"

    1. please suggest what formula i can use

  19. Hi All,

    Please help, Im trying t create a conditional formatting for 1 column but utilize 2 columns conditions: I want to highlight Column I with names that are duplicated in a consecutive row that have the same date in column N. Doable?

    Thanks a lot in advance.

    1. Hi, Apology for not making it clear. Here's a basic data sample but it actually involves thousands of rows.... I just want to "highlight" the name in 1 column that appreared twice in a consecutive row that also appeared to have the same date on its row. In the below sample, I want to highlight President B and president E, as it was "Duplicated" in 2 consecutive rows that have the same name and the same date. Thank you so much in advance :)

      name dates
      President A 12/1/2022
      President B 12/1/2022
      President B 12/1/2022
      president A 12/1/2022
      President C 12/1/2022
      President D 12/1/2022
      President E 12/2/2022
      President E 12/2/2022

      1. updated sample: I'd like to highlight President B and president E in this table. thanks again :)

        name date category code
        President A 12/1/2022 10
        President B 12/1/2022 10
        President B 12/1/2022 10
        President E 12/1/2022 10
        President C 12/1/2022 10
        President D 12/1/2022 10
        President A 12/2/2022 10
        President B 12/2/2022 10
        President E 12/2/2022 10
        President E 12/2/2022 10
        president A 12/3/2022 10

  20. I have the following formula in a cell in my spreadsheet which works fine: "IF(AND(ISBLANK($F4), $F4<=$E4), FALSE, TRUE)" If I try to put this formula into my conditional formatting to turn that cell background red it does not work. I am not sure what I ma doing wrong. Also, the conditional formatting keeps adding a lot of quote marks to my formula and even when I go back to remove these it puts them back. ="IF(AND(ISBLANK($F4), $F4<=$E4), FALSE, TRUE)"

    1. Hi!
      Type in the formula box in the conditional formatting rule

      =IF(AND(ISBLANK($F4), $F4<=$E4), FALSE, TRUE)

  21. I'm trying to figure out how to use conditional formatting on the results of a formula. For example. G2 is a DOB, H2 is a calculation of the age in months based on the current date and the DOB. I would like to be able to format so that the results of the formula in H2 can be categorized. If H2 >0 and or= 24 and <or=47, the cell will be yellow, etc. It seems that I cannot use the "value" function because the value is the formula that calculate the month. The only alternative I can find is to individually conditionally format for "text contains" and type in each month value (which 12 months x 16 years which seems excessive). Please advise!

    1. Hi!
      If H2 contains a number, use H2=24 or similar. I don't understand the conditions you describe so I can't offer a formula.

  22. Hi. In column B is a list of days/dates. I have a cond. format that turns the cell blue on todays date. Simple enough.
    However, i'd like cell R to be highlighted on yesterdays row, today.
    Tue-06 7 :57 12:30 13:0 17:11 44 34
    Wed-07 7:33 12:30 13:5 17:0 50 2
    So if WED-07 was highlighted as thats today, i'd also like 44 34 highlighted from yesterday.
    Does that make sense.

      1. Hi
        That was my first thought but it doesn't seem to work. Would have been simple

        1. The dates in column b are typed manually. How would another cell know what yesterdays date is? Would i have to have a seperate cell with todays date - =today() ??

  23. Hi. Could you help me with conditional formatting for the following scenario, please?

    If cell B1 has '00-Jan-00' in it, then cell A1 needs to be highlighted in red (regardless of what A1 has in it)

    Thanks

  24. what is the correct function or format to utilize if i want to have an up arrow if value in one cell is greater than value in another cell
    down arrow if less than

    wanting to track if rate is trending up or down each week

    1. Or you can compare two columns using conditional formatting Icon Set arrows as explained in this example.

  25. Hi, I am trying to conditionally format some test results. I have a table with columns for each question and the marks that each student got. I have made it an actual table within excel and added in the 'total row' option within the table editing. Within this bottom row I have put the maximum values for each mark. I wanted to then use these as the references for conditional formatting.

    However, it is not working. And it is something to do with using the 'total row', it is as though excel will not recognise values in this row for conditional formatting.

    Any ideas?

    PS I would prefer to have them in the total row at the bottom for visual purposes, I know I could move them elsewhere and make it work, but I want this to work (and also to find out why it isn't working!)

    1. Hi!
      I kindly ask you to have a closer look at the article above. Perhaps you are not using an absolute reference to the total row.
      For example,

      =A1>$A$10

  26. OK, so I hope someone can help me figure this out. I have two columns, first one is year of purchase and the second is end of life (EOL). So, column one will have year 2019, column two has a formula in it that adds 5 years to the first column, (2019+5). So, purchase date will be 2019 and EOL is 2024. I'd like to use conditional formatting to show when the device is getting closer to replacement. This way the EOL column turns green as long as the device is 3 years old or younger, 3-4 years old would be yellow, 4-5+ years turns red.

    Thanks for any help that can be given.

    Aaron

  27. We have somethings with expiration dates and want to make a spreadsheet that will show us (in yellow) when they are 30-60 days from expiring and (in red) when they are <30 days as well as past the due date, and all other cells are to remain white. We want the color in column C and the date in column B. We also only need the month and year and can't figure out how to set it to only show mm/yy (as in 09/22). Excell used to not be this complicated but we sure can't figure it out now-can anyone help with this?

    Thank you!

  28. I have column A with days and dates listed. I then have five columns (B:F) with a drop down menu of "Yes", "No", "Maybe".

    What formula should I use in the Column A cells to turn just that cell in Column A to green if all other 5 columns (B:F) are "Yes" OR to turn the date cell in Column A to red if all other 5 columns (B:F) are "No". Those rows with a mix of yes, no, maybe could remain uncoloured in Column A.

    Thanks in advance.

  29. Hi, I am trying to compare two table in two different sheets for duplicate values. Can i please ask what is your opinion in regards of what should i use for that ? Thank you in advance.

  30. I love your tools and they make my life much easier. I would like to format a cell based on the following:

    If a cell in column L contains "N0" and I would like to format the corresponding cell in Colum A the same color as the format in Column L.

  31. MY mac does have "new rules type" under "New format". What can I do ? TIA

    1. Hi!
      To create a new conditional formatting rule on mac, follow Home - Conditional formatting - New rule - Style: Classic - Use a formula (or other options of your choice).

  32. Hi Alexander Trifuntov, it worked like charm , nice and appreciate you help and this portal

  33. Sire, i trying to lookup 4 cells if any of the Cell contains text "Yes" than it should give a ouptu in a new cell with a text "Match found". How can i achieve this . Thanks

      1. Hi Alexander Trifuntov, it worked like charm , nice and appreciate you help and this portal

  34. PLEASE HELP

    I've tried everything. I have a formula that I know works in another excel sheet I already have. I have followed it exactly- to the the T again (and even copied and pasted) and copied and pasted the format only too. It goes like this
    I have A4 Cell that will either contain 100% (or other varying percentages) (I've put this in text, general, numbers, percentages, etc. - still no fix). I want the B4 Cell to turn gray if A4 has 100%.
    I select "Use a formula to determine which cells to format"
    Format where this formula is true:
    =$A4=''100" (I've also put "100%)

    In my other excel where this formula works the formula is true when =$A4="Yes" but I'm guessing there is a problem because its a percentage or number? Please let me know

  35. Hello,

    Thank you for the above post, I learnt a lot and have been able to conditionally format some cells I need but I am still stuck on a particular one.

    I would like AE11 to turn yellow if greater than AE4 or green if less than AE4.

    I have formatted these rules with no luck:
    Rule 1: =AE11 >= $AE$4 (yellow)
    Rule 2: =AE110,SUM(AE5:AE10),"") and the value of AE4 is generated based on the formula =IF($C$11 = 1,"1",IF($C$11 = 2,"3",IF($C$11 = 3,"5",IF($C$11 = 4,"6",IF($C$11 = 5,"8",IF($C$11 = 6,"9","")))))). Is the fact both cells contain a formula affecting my ability to conditionally format?

    Please excuse my messy rules, just starting out.

    1. Sorry, something has gone wrong with my post and now it doesn't make sense.

      The crux of my problem is AE11 and AE4 both contain formulas. How do I conditionally format cells when the cells already contain a formula?

        1. Hey,

          I have checked my formulas in both AE11 and AE4 and they are both working.

          The formula for AE11 is =IF(AD5>0,SUM(AE5:AE10),"")

          While the formula for AE4 is =IF($C$11 = 1,"1",IF($C$11 = 2,"3",IF($C$11 = 3,"5",IF($C$11 = 4,"6",IF($C$11 = 5,"8",IF($C$11 = 6,"9",""))))))

          They are both returning what is expected of them. I want to conditionally format AE11 so it turns yellow if greater than AE4 or stays white if less than or equal to AE4.

          1. Hi!
            Your second formula returns numbers as text. You cannot compare text and number. Do not use double quotes in it. Instead of "3" write 3.

            1. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It is working perfectly now.

              You are very generous in sharing your expertise.

  36. Dear Alex,

    I need to fill the current cell with some colour if the font colour of the matching data from another sheet is red. Kindly tell us the syntax ?

    Thanks in advance

      1. Thank you so much

  37. Dear Sir/Mam,
    Need support for excel formula.
    I want to show aging report to management.
    if last three days not single qty dispatch showing colour Yellow, if not dispatched last 5 days showing colour Red.

    please supoort.
    I have data
    Date wise FG in qty & date wise dispatch qty,

    Regards,
    Indrajit Raut

  38. I am using conditional formatting on a calendar. I created a scheduler where I enter appointments and the appointments then appear on the calendar using a vlookup. The scheduler is just a pivot table that is very rudimentary, but it really looks nice when it is moved to the calendar. The problem I am having is that when I try to search the pivot table for the condition it is highlighting everyday on my calendar because it is picking up the formulas in the pivot table rather than the results of the formulas. How do I get the conditional formatting to search for the value/results that the formulas give rather than the formula itself?

  39. Hello, hoping you can help me! I have a spreadsheet with column headings:
    BUDGET - these are $ values
    ACTUAL - these are $ values
    VARIANCE - this is a % difference
    I want to use conditional formatting in the ACTUAL cell BUT based on the result in the VARIANCE cell, eg:

    If the VARIANCE is >90%, then format ACTUAL green
    If the VARIANCE is between 76%-89%, then format ACTUAL orange
    If the VARIANCE is <75%, then format ACTUAL red

    Hoping you can help! Thanking you in anticipation!

    1. Hi!
      Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? Pay attention to the following paragraph of the article above – Formulas to compare values. Create a separate rule for each color.

  40. I want to highlight the corresponding values of Y axis with X axis. I have about 3000 units.
    V lookup can find only 1 data at a time. I am looking for the way where i can find all 3000 values in X axis and their corresponding Y axis value (it is in text format)

  41. I am creating a spreadsheet where I have a drop-down with numbers 1, 2, and 3 in column C. I want to associate a different set of locker combinations to each number in column D depending on which number I select in column C... how can I best accomplish this?

    Thank you!

  42. Hello,

    I'm having trouble getting my conditional formatting to work. I have a column formatted to turn red, yellow, or green, based on how far out the date is. That part is working fine, however, I also have formatting set to grey the cell out if a separate column is marked "yes". This is working on some cells but not others and I see no reason why it shouldn't work. I have tried completely deleting all formatting and starting over. I have tried using just the grey format and it still only applies to the same cells and not the others. My formula is simple and reads =R2="yes". Do you know why this works on some cells and not others?

    1. Hello!
      Unfortunately, without seeing your data it is difficult to give you any advice. Check if other conditional formatting rules apply to these cells. Also, check the values in column R. There may be extra spaces or other characters.

  43. I have a spreadsheet (spreadsheet 1) with all addresses in our county (about 140,000). Those addresses have latitude and longitude assigned to them.

    I have another spreadsheet (spreadsheet 2) of about 300 people who signed up and gave their address to participate in a program to pick up material at their home for free. I want to conditionally match those addresses with addresses in spreadsheet 1 so I can locate people that signed up on a map using their latitude and longitude (this method is more accurate than other methods available).

    Using the following formula I got about 80 of the 300 addresses in spreadsheet 2 to match with addresses in spreadsheet 1 =COUNTIFS(Address, $O2)

    (Address in that formula is a Named Range in spreadsheet 2, which I read enables me to compare columns from two different spreadsheets, and it worked.)

    The failed matches is because people who signed up did not always write their street name the same way the county has it in its records. But they almost always get their street number correct, and the first word of the street name, so I am guessing matching about the first 12 characters will capture many more matches.

    So, I want to conditionally format a match of the first 12 characters in the address column on spreadsheet 1 with the first 12 characters in the address column on spreadsheet 2.

    I have tried =COUNTIFS(LEFT(Address,12),LEFT($O2,12)) and a number of other formulas, but all have been rejected by Excel. Help getting the correct formula would be greatly appreciated.

    1. Hello!
      COUNTIFS function cannot use formula instead of a range of values. If you want to count the number of matches, use the SUMPRODUCT function.

      =SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT(Address,12)=LEFT($O2,12)))

      You can also use the SEARCH function to search for matches.

      =SUM(--ISNUMBER(SEARCH(LEFT($O2,12),Address)))

      I hope it’ll be helpful. If something is still unclear, please feel free to ask.

      1. Thank you Alexander for your swift response! I apologize for my long-delayed Thank You.

        I wish I could say your answer worked. It is entirely possible your answer would work if I had more knowledge on how to apply it.

        Bottom line is after trying your formulas (probably wrongly) I gave up and used a geocoding website (not perfect results, but appears to be pretty good). Even if I were able to use your formulas properly, this kind of problem really needs a fuzzy match, because of the mistakes people make when they write their address. From what I have read that is far trickier than what I asked about and beyond my very basic Excel skills, so rather than try to become an Excel expert for this one problem I decided to give up.

        Thank you again for trying to help me, and for helping others here!

  44. I need to the following to be conditionally formatted in the following manner:

    1. if Column F = 4 I need the cells that have an "R" in columns G-W to be red.
    2. if Column F = 3 I need the cells that have an "R" in columns G-W to be yellow.
    3. If Column E = Y I need names in column C to be highlighted in Blue.

    Any help would be greatly apprciated

  45. Your created a Conditional Formatting Rule that will highlight the cell if any of the values in the range A3:A50 meets or exceeds the new Client Goal of 3 in cell A1, using this Rule: “=$A$3>=$A$1”. However, the formatting was changed for the entire range whether the criteria was met or not. What probably went wrong?

    A. The Conditional Formatting Rule should be: =A$3>=$A$1

    B. The Conditional Formatting Rule should be: =$A$3=A1

    C. The Conditional Formatting Rule should be: =$A$3>$A$1

    D. The Conditional Formatting Rule should be: =A3>=$A$1

  46. A1='Sheet2'!H9
    when applying conditional formula in A1 as
    Cell value>=$W$12+$Y$12+$AA$12+$AC$12 fill red colour
    not working why?

    2. Resolved
      'Sheet2'!H9 stored as text

  47. I have a spread sheet where I need column (AM) to turn red if any of the information in Columns (Q), (X) or (AD) have turned red. Columns Q, X and AD are all formatted differently.

    Q - Cell value is equal to NO (turns red)

    X - Cell value greater than 3 (turns red)

    AD - Cell value is less than -3 (turns red)

    A colleague of mine had worked it out, but in his example all of the cells were formatted the same and his formula was:

    =OR(A2="No",B2="No")

    I'm not sure how to change it to make it work.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

      1. Thank you Alexander. I appreciate your help. The solution you provided, worked, kind of. It ended up turning cells red which should not have turned red.

        But thank you for your help!

  48. HI Have applied conditional formatting to excel spreadsheet to highlight dates of overdue , due and coming due - however even though the range is set to the entire data collection only half is working correctly - if i insert a line above the part that is not working then it will work and another line does not - it seems like only part of data will work

    1. Hi!
      I don't see your data and I don't know your conditional formatting formula. So I can't give you any advice.

  49. Hello,
    I have a list of numbers (List A) that I want to have highlighted in another list (List B), that contains even more numbers.
    I've tried to conditionally format the cells of list B by using this formula:

    =COUNTIF('List A'!$A$2:$A$737,'List B'!$A$2:$A$1163)>0

    on the range $A$2:$A$1163 but nothing happens.

    Do you know what could be the problem?

      1. Thank you very much!!

  50. Hello.
    I'm having trouble understanding conditional formatting.
    If the length of a string in column Q exceeds the integer in its corresponding (same row) H column cell, I want the column Q cell in red.

    The following formula works:
    =LEN(Q1)>$H1

    but the following doesn't:
    =LEN(Q4)>$H4

    Could you help me understand why one works while the other does not?
    I feel that both should work the same, since the only difference is the row both cells are in.
    Thank you for your time.

    1. Hello!
      Pay attention to the first paragraph of this article. Select the range of cells you want to format (ex. Q1:Q4) and then apply the rule with the first formula

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