Conditional Formatting Rule

To set up a conditional formatting rule based on a formula in any version of Excel.

1. Select the cells you want to format. You can select one column, several columns or the entire table if you
want to apply your conditional format to rows.

Tip. If you plan to add more data in the future and you want the conditional formatting rule to get
applied to new entries automatically, you can either:
o Convert a range of cells to a table (Insert tab > Table). In this case, the conditional formatting
will be automatically applied to all new rows.
o Select some empty rows below your data, say 100 blank rows.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional formatting > New Rule…

3. In the New Formatting Rule window, select Use a formula to determine which cells to format.

4. Enter the formula in the corresponding box.

5. Click the Format… button to choose your custom format.

6. Switch between the Font, Border and Fill tabs and play with different options such as font style, pattern
color and fill effects to set up the format that works best for you. If the standard palette does not suffice,
click More colors… and choose any RGB or HSL color to your liking. When done, click the OK button.
7. Make sure the Preview section displays the format you want and if it does, click the OK button to save
the rule. If you are not quite happy with the format preview, click the Format… button again and make
the edits.

• Formulas to compare values (numbers and text)

As you know Microsoft Excel provides a handful of ready-to-use rules to format cells with values
greater than, less than or equal to the value you specify (Conditional Formatting >Highlight Cells
Rules). However, these rules do not work if you want to conditionally format certain columns or entire
rows based on a cell's value in another column. In this case, you use analogous formulas:

Condition Formula example

Equal to =$B2=10

Not equal to =$B2<>10

Greater than =$B2>10

Greater than or equal to =$B2>=10

Less than =$B2<10

Less than or equal to =$B2<=10

Between =AND($B2>5, $B2<10)

The screenshot below shows an example of the Greater than formula that highlights product names in
column A if the number of items in stock (column C) is greater than 0. Please pay attention that the
formula applies to column A only ($A$2:$A$8). But if you select the whole table (in our case,
$A$2:$E$8), this will highlight entire rows based on the value in column C.

In a similar fashion, you can create a conditional formatting rule to compare values of two cells. For
example:
=$A2<$B2 - format cells or rows if a value in column A is less than the corresponding value in column
B.
=$A2=$B2 - format cells or rows if values in columns A and B are the same.
=$A2<>$B2 - format cells or rows if a value in column A is not the same as in column B.
As you can see in the screenshot below, these formulas work for text values as well as for numbers.
 • AND and OR formulas

If you want to format your Excel table based on 2 or more conditions, then use either =AND or =OR
function:

Condition Formula Description

Formats cells if the value in

column B is less than in
=AND($B2<$C2, column C, and if the value in
If both conditions are met
$C2<$D2) column C is less than in
column D.

Formats cells if the value in

column B is less than in
=OR($B2<$C2, column C, or if the value in
If one of the conditions is met
$C2<$D2) column C is less than in
column D.

In the screenshot below, we use the formula =AND($C2>0, $D2="Worldwide") to change the
background color of rows if the number of items in stock (Column C) is greater than 0 and if the product
ships worldwide (Column D). Please pay attention that the formula works with text values as well as
with numbers.

Naturally, you can use two, three or more conditions in your AND and OR formulas.
 • Conditional formatting for empty and non-empty cells

Everyone knows how to format empty and not empty cells in Excel - you simply create a new rule of the
"Format only cells that contain" type and choose either Blanks or No Blanks.

But what if you want to format cells in a certain column if a corresponding cell in another column is
empty or not empty? In this case, you will need to utilize Excel formulas again:
Formula for blanks: =$B2="" - format selected cells / rows if a corresponding cell in Column B is
blank.
Formula for non-blanks: =$B2<>"" - format selected cells / rows if a corresponding cell in Column B
is not blank.

Note. The formulas above will work for cells that are "visually" empty or not empty. If you use some
Excel function that returns an empty string, e.g. =if(false,"OK", ""), and you don't want such cells to
be treated as blanks, use the following formulas instead =isblank(A1)=true or =isblank(A1)=false to
format blank and non-blank cells, respectively.
 Suppose, you have a column (B) which is "Date of Sale" and another column (C) "Delivery". These 2
columns have a value only if a sale has been made and the item delivered. So, you want the entire row to
turn orange when you've made a sale; and when an item is delivered, a corresponding row should turn
green. To achieve this, you need to create 2 conditional formatting rules with the following formulas:

• Orange rows (a cell in column B is not empty): =$B2<>""

• Green rows (cells in column B and column C are not empty): =AND($B2<>"", $C2<>"")

One more thing for you to do is to move the second rule to the top and select the Stop if true check box
next to this rule:
 • Excel formulas to work with text values

If you want to format a certain column(s) when another cell in the same row contains a certain word,
you can use a formula discussed in one of the previous examples (like =$D2="Worldwide"). However,
this will only work for exact match.

For partial match, you will need to use either SEARCH (case insensitive) or FIND (case sensitive).
For example, to format selected cells or rows if a corresponding cell in column D contains the word
"Worldwide", use the below formula. This formula will find all such cells, regardless of where the
specified text is located in a cell, including "Ships Worldwide", "Worldwide, except for…", etc:
=SEARCH("Worldwide", $D2)>0

If you'd like to shade selected cells or rows if the cell's content starts with the search text, use this one:
=SEARCH("Worldwide", $D2)>1

• Excel formulas to highlight duplicates

If your task is to conditionally format cells with duplicate values, you can go with the pre-defined rule
available under Conditional formatting > Highlight Cells Rules > Duplicate Values…

However, in some cases the data looks better if you color selected columns or entire rows when a
duplicate values occurs in another column. In this case, you will need to employ an Excel conditional
formatting formula again, and this time we will be using the COUNTIF formula. As you know, this
Excel function counts the number of cells within a specified range that meet a single criterion.
Highlight duplicates including 1st occurrences

=COUNTIF($A$2:$A$10,$A2)>1 - this formula finds duplicate values in the specified range in

Column A (A2:A10 in our case), including first occurrences.
Highlight duplicates without 1st occurrences
To ignore the first occurrence and highlight only subsequent duplicate values, use this
formula: =COUNTIF($A$2:$A2,$A2)>1

Highlight duplicate rows

If you want apply the conditional format when duplicate values occur in two or more columns, you will
need to add an extra column to your table in which you concatenate the values from the key columns
using a simple formula like this one =A2&B2. After that you apply a rule using either variation of the
COUNTIF formula for duplicates (with or without 1st occurrences). Naturally, you can hide an
additional column after creating the rule.

Alternatively, you can use the COUNTIFS function that supports multiple criteria in a single formula. In
this case, you won't need a helper column.
In this example, to highlight duplicate rows with 1st occurrences, create a rule with the following
formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, $A2, $B$2:$B$11, $B2)>1
To highlight duplicate rows without 1st occurrences, use this formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A2, $A2, $B$2:$B2, $B2)>1
Compare 2 columns for duplicates

One of the most frequent tasks in Excel is to check 2 columns for duplicate values - i.e. find and
highlight values that exist in both columns. To do this, you will need to create an Excel conditional
formatting rule for each column with a combination of =ISERROR() and =MATCH() functions:
For Column A: =ISERROR(MATCH(A1,$B$1:$B$10000,0))=FALSE
For Column B: =ISERROR(MATCH(B1,$A$1:$A$10000,0))=FALSE
Note. For such conditional formulas to work correctly, it's very important that you apply the rules to the
entire columns, e.g. =$A:$A and =$B:$B.
You can see an example of practical usage in the following screenshot that highlights duplicates in
Columns E and F.

As you can see, Excel conditional formatting formulas cope with dupes pretty well. However, for more
complex cases, I would recommend using the Duplicate Remover add-in that is especially designed to
find, highlight and remove duplicates in Excel, in one sheet or between two spreadsheets.
Formulas to highlight values above or below average
When you work with several sets of numeric data, the AVERAGE() function may come in handy to
format cells whose values are below or above the average in a column.
For example, you can use the formula =$E2<AVERAGE($E$2:$E$8) to conditionally format the rows
where the sale numbers are below the average, as shown in the screenshot below. If you are looking for
the opposite, i.e. to shade the products performing above the average, replace "<" with ">" in the
formula: =$E2>AVERAGE($E$2:$E$8).

How to highlight the nearest value in Excel

If I have a set of numbers, is there a way I can use Excel conditional formatting to highlight the number
in that set that is closest to zero? This is what one of our blog readers, Jessica, wanted to know. The
question is very clear and straightforward, but the answer is a bit too long for the comments sections,
that's why you see a solution here :)
Example 1. Find the nearest value, including exact match
In our example, we'll find and highlight the number that is closest to zero. If the data set contains one or
more zeroes, all of them will be highlighted. If there is no 0, then the value closest to it, either positive
or negative, will be highlighted.
First off, you need to enter the following formula to any empty cell in your worksheet, you will be able
to hide that cell later, if needed. The formula finds the number in a given range that is closest to the
number you specify and returns the absolute value of that number (absolute value is the number without
its sign):
=MIN(ABS(B2:D13-(0)))
In the above formula, B2:D13 is your range of cells and 0 is the number for which you want to find the
closest match. For example, if you are looking for a value closest to 5, the formula will change
to: =MIN(ABS(B2:D13-(5)))
Note. This is an array formula, so you need to press Ctrl + Shift + Enter instead of a simple Enter
stroke to complete it.
And now, you create a conditional formatting rule with the following formula, where B3 is the top-right
cell in your range and $C$2 in the cell with the above array formula:
=OR(B3=0-$C$2,B3=0+$C$2)
Please pay attention to the use of absolute references in the address of the cell containing the array
formula ($C$2), because this cell is constant. Also, you need to replace 0 with the number for which you
want to highlight the closest match. For example, if we wanted to highlight the value nearest to 5, the
formula would change to: =OR(B3=5-$C$2,B3=5+$C$2)

Example 2. Highlight a value closest to the given value, but NOT exact match
In case you do not want to highlight the exact match, you need a different array formula that will find
the closest value but ignore the exact match.
For example, the following array formula finds the value closest to 0 in the specified range, but ignores
zeroes, if any:
=MIN(ABS(B3:C13-(0))+(10^0*(B3:C13=0)))
Please remember to press Ctrl + Shift + Enter after you finished typing your array formula.
The conditional formatting formula is the same as in the above example:
=OR(B3=0-$C$2,B3=0+$C$2)
However, since our array formula in cell C2 ignores the exact match, the conditional formatting rule
ignores zeroes too and highlights the value 0.003 that is the closest match.

If you want to find the value nearest to some other number in your Excel sheet, just replace "0" with the
number you want both in the array and conditional formatting formulas.