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Conditional formatting with

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formulas (10 examples)
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by DAVE BRUNS | August 18, 2016 Function Guide
Formula Examp
Formula
Conditional formatting is a fantastic way to quickly
Criteria
visualize data in a spreadsheet. With conditional
Excel Shortcuts
formatting, you can do things like highlight dates in the
Pivot Tables
next 30 days, ag data entry problems, highlight rows
101 Excel
that contain top customers, show duplicates, and more.
Functions
Excel ships with a large number of "presets" that make it Excel Tables
easy to create new rules without formulas. However, you INDEX and
can also create rules with your own custom formulas. By MATCH
using your own formula, you take over the condition that Excel Charts
triggers a rule, and can apply exactly the logic you need. Conditional
Formulas give you maximum power and exibility. Formatting
Custom
For example, using the "Equal to" preset, it's easy to Number
highlight cells equal to "apple". Formats
Data Validation
But what if you want to highlight cells equal to "apple" or
Nested IF
"kiwi" or "lime"? Sure, you can create a rule for each
examples
value, but that's a lot of trouble. Instead, you can simply
Formula
use one rule based on a formula with the OR function:
challenges
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Key functions
Here's the result of the rule applied to the range B4:F8 in
this spreadsheet: IF function
VLOOKUP funct
SUMIFS
function
COUNTIFS
function
INDEX
function
MATCH
Here's the exact formula used: function
SUMPRODUCT
= OR(B4 = "apple",B4 = "kiwi",B4 = "lime") function
Quick start Hi - I'm Da
and I
You can create a formula-based conditional formatting
run
rule in four easy steps:
Exceljet
1. Select the cells you want to format. with my
wife, Lisa. Our goal is
to help you work
faster in Excel. We
create short videos,
and clear examples of
formulas, functions,
pivot tables,
conditional
formatting, and
charts. Read more.
2. Create a conditional formatting rule, and select the
Formula option

3. Enter a formula that returns TRUE or FALSE.

4. Set formatting options and save the rule.

The ISODD function only returns TRUE for odd numbers,
triggering the rule:

Video: How to apply conditional formatting with a

formula

We also offer video training on this topic.

Formula logic
Formulas that apply conditional formatting must return
TRUE or FALSE, or numeric equivalents. Here are some
examples:

= ISODD(A1)
= ISNUMBER(A1)
= A1 > 100
= AND(A1 > 100,B1 < 50)
= OR(F1 = "MN",F1 = "WI")

The above formulas all return TRUE or FALSE, so they

work perfectly as a trigger for conditional formatting.

When conditional formatting is applied to a range of

cells, enter cell references with respect to the rst row
and column in the selection (i.e. the upper left cell). The
trick to understanding how conditional formatting
formulas work is to visualize the same formula being
applied to each cell in the selection, with cell references
updated as usual. Imagine that you entered the formula
in the upper left cell of the selection, and then copied the
formula across the entire selection. If you struggle with
this, see the section on Dummy Formulas below.

Formula Examples
Below are examples of custom formulas you can use to
apply conditional formatting. Some of these examples
can be created using Excel's built-in presets for
highlighting cells, but custom formulas can go far beyond
presets, as you can see below.

Also see: More than 30 Conditional Formatting

Formulas

Highlight orders from Texas

To highlight rows that represent orders from Texas

(abbreviated TX), use a formula that locks the reference
to column F:

= $F5 = "TX"

For more details, see this article: Highlight rows with

conditional formatting.

Video: How to highlight rows with conditional

formatting

Highlight dates in the next 30 days 

To highlight dates occurring in the next 30 days, we need

a formula that (1) makes sure dates are in the future and
(2) makes sure dates are 30 days or less from today. One
way to do this is to use the AND function together with
the NOW function like this:

= AND(B4 > NOW(),B4 <= (NOW() + 30))

With a current date of August 18, 2016, the conditional

formatting highlights dates as follows:

The NOW function returns the current date and time. For
details about how this formula, works, see this article:
Highlight dates in the next N days.

Highlight column differences 

Given two columns that contain similar information, you
can use conditional formatting to spot subtle differences.
The formula used to trigger the formatting below is:

= $B4 <> $C4

See also: a version of this formula that uses the EXACT

function to do a case-sensitive comparison.

Highlight missing values

To highlight values in one list that are missing from

another, you can use a formula based on the COUNTIF
function:

= COUNTIF(list,B5) = 0

This formula simply checks each value in List A against

values in the named range "list" (D5:D10). When the
count is zero, the formula returns TRUE and triggers the
rule, which highlights values in List A that are missing
from List B.

Video: How to nd missing values with COUNTIF

Highlight properties with 3+ bedrooms under

$350k

To nd properties in this list that have at least 3

bedrooms but are less than $300,000, you can use a
formula based on the AND function:

= AND($C5 < 350000,$D5 >= 3)

The dollar signs ($) lock the reference to columns C and

D, and the AND function is used to make sure
both conditions are TRUE. In rows where the AND
function returns TRUE, the conditional formatting is
applied:
Highlight top values (dynamic example)

Although Excel has presets for "top values", this example

shows how to do the same thing with a formula, and how
formulas can be more exible. By using a formula, we can
make the worksheet interactive — when the value in F2 is
updated, the rule instantly responds and highlights new
values.

The formula used for this rule is:

= B4 >= LARGE(data,input)

Where "data" is the named range  B4:G11, and "input" is

the named range F2.  This page has details and a full
explanation.

Gantt charts

Believe it or not, you can even use formulas to create

simple Gantt charts with conditional formatting like this:

This worksheet uses two rules, one for the bars, and one
for the weekend shading:

= AND(D$4 >= $B5,D$4 <= $C5) // bars

= WEEKDAY(D$4,2) > 5 // weekends

This article explains the formula for bars, and this article
explains the formula for weekend shading.

Simple search box

One cool trick you can do with conditional formatting is
to build a simple search box. In this example, a rule
highlights cells in column B that contain text typed in
cell F2:

The formula used is:

= ISNUMBER(SEARCH($F$2,B2))

For more details and a full explanation, see:

Article: How to highlight cells that contain

speci c text
Article: How to highlight rows that contain
speci c text
Video: How to build a search box to highlight data

Troubleshooting
If you can't get your conditional formatting rules to re
correctly, there's most likely a problem with your
formula. First, make sure you started the formula with an
equals sign (=). If you forget this step, Excel will silently
convert your entire formula to text, rendering it useless.
To x, just remove the double quotes Excel added at
either side and make sure the formula begins with equals
(=).

If your formula is entered correctly, but is not triggering

the rule, you may have do dig a little deeper. Normally,
you can use the F9 key to check results in a formula, or
use the Evaluate feature to step through a formula.
Unfortunately, you can't use these tools with conditional
formatting formulas, but you can use a technique called
"dummy formulas".

Dummy Formulas

Dummy formulas are a way to test your conditional

formatting formulas directly on the worksheet, so you
can see what they're actually doing. This can be a big
time-saver when you're struggling to get cell references
working correctly.

In a nutshell, you enter the same formula across a range

of cells that matches the shape of your data. This let's
you see the values returned by each formula, and it's
great way to visualize and understand how formula-
based conditional formatting works. For a detailed
explanation, see this article.
Video: Perfect conditional formatting with dummy
formulas

Limitations
There are some limitations that come with formula-
based conditional formatting. First, You can't apply icons,
color scales, or data bars with a custom formula. You are
limited to standard cell formatting, including number
formats, font, ll color, and border options.

Second, you can't use certain formula constructs

like unions, intersections, or array constants for
conditional formatting criteria. Generally, there are ways
to work around these restrictions. If you see this error,
and have a valid formula, you may be able to move the
logic of the formula into a cell in the worksheet, then
refer to that cell in the formula instead. If you are trying
to use an array constant, try created a named range
instead.

More CF formula resources

More than 30 conditional formatting formulas
examples
Video training with practice worksheets

See also 
Test conditional formatting with dummy formulas

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OMG!!! Thank you soooo much - I wear out my select- ll

down menu + short cut keys - this tip is ABSOLUTELY
WONDERFUL! - Sylvia

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