Learn how to create a rule that depends on another cell. I need to know if it's possible to make Excel use an IF statement to decide whether to apply conditional formatting to a cell. From the Conditional Formatting dropdown menu, select New Rule. In the Conditional Formatting spreadsheet, select cells G4 through G13. Tip: If you want to use multiple rules instead of multiple conditions, you can do it without trouble. Microsoft Excel Advanced: Participant Guide 11 Using Conditional Formatting to Hide Cells If you have cell contents and you do not want to be visible, you can use conditional formatting to hide them. The Excel RIGHT function extracts a given number of characters from the end of a string.įor example, RIGHT(“A920X”,” 1) returns “X.” So, this example is just one of the hundreds of different formulas you could enter with the AND function. Use the RIGHT function to extract characters starting at the right side of the text. For example, LEFT(“A920X”,1) returns “A.” We use AND at the beginning of the formula to apply multiple conditions at the same time.Īpply the LEFT function when you want to extract a given number of characters starting on the left side of the text. Excel will reflect every cell in the range selected with the first character = A, AND the last character = X by changing the background color. If you have used a formula in conditional formatting that uses absolute or mixed references, then it may not work as expected when copied.įor example, in the below example, I have used the formula =$B2>=80 to highlight all cells in column B that have a value higher than 80.Your spreadsheet will focus on all cells in Description that meet ALL conditions. This option allows you to create your own formula and formatting is applied in the formula returns TRUE for a cell and not applied when the formula returns FALSE. In most cases, you will have no problems copying and pasting conditional formatting from one cell to another.īut you may face issues if you have used a custom formula to determine which cells to format. Issue when Copying Conditional Formatting In this ArticleExcel Conditional FormattingConditional Formatting in VBAPractical Uses of Conditional Formatting in VBAA Simple Example of Creating a Conditional Format on a RangeMulti-Conditional. Once you have the format painter activated, you can use it on the same sheet, on some other sheet in the same workbook, and even on the other workbook.Īgain, just like with paste special, Format painter also copies all the formatting (including the conditional formatting). That will keep the format painter active and you can paste the formatting multiple times (unless you hit the Escape key). Pro tip: In case you want to copy the conditional formatting and paste it on multiple cells or ranges (that you can not select at one go), click on the Format painter icon twice. Select all the cells where you want the copied conditional formatting to be applied.It’s for an earlier version of Excel, but the interface really hasn’t changed much. In the Clipboard group, click on the Format Painter icon RELATED: Using Conditional Cell Formatting in Excel 2007 If you’ve never used Conditional Formatting before, you might want to look at Using Conditional Cell Formatting in Excel 2007.Any conditional formatting argument must generate a TRUE result, meaning that at a literal level, your conditional formatting rule is an If/Then statement along the lines of If this condition is TRUE, THEN format the cell this way. Select the cell (or range of cells) from which you want to copy the conditional formatting Can I use an IF formula in conditional formatting The answer is yes and no.Suppose you have a dataset as shown below where I have conditional formatting applied to the Math score column so that all the cells that have the value more than 80 get highlighted.īelow are the steps to use format painter to copy conditional formatting from the Math score column and apply it to the Physics score column: Copy Conditional Formatting Using Format Painterįormat painter is a tool that allows you to copy the format from a cell (or range of cells) and paste it.Īnd since conditional formatting is also a part of the formatting, you can also use format painter to copy and then paste it. Note: The same steps shown above would also work when copying and pasting conditional formatting to cells in another sheet or even another workbook. So if there is any border in the cells or if the text has been made bold, etc., that would also be copied. One thing to remember when using Paste Special to copy conditional formatting is that it will copy all the formatting. Rule no: 1 is, in conditional formatting, your formula should be a logical formula and result should be in TRUE or FALSE.