Conditional Formatting for multiple cells

[Budget Programmer]

Hello there,
I have an Excel 2007 worksheet with a grid of 20 rows by 30 columns of
dates. Depending on the comparison to Today(), the cell changes background
color to Red, Yellow, Green, or Blank. The rules work fine for a single
cell. Results are fine. However each cell has to be evaluated individually
and colored appropriately

The problem arises when I go to copy the first cell to the rest of the 600
cells. If I go to "Manage Rules" and select "This Worksheet", it's huge. It
makes the worksheet slow down as well.

Question: Is there a way I can simplify this so my five rules per cell can
be written once for the spreadsheet, but evaluate and color each cell based
in its individual date? I tried to use the "$" for the cell's address, it's
not copying well.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Luke M]

Select all the cells of interest, and then go into conditional formatting.
Setup the rules as they would appy to the active cell (the cell within
selected range that is currently displayed in formula bar). Do not use
absolute referece ($) symbols.

When you click 'ok', XL will apply your rules to each cell, change the cell
references to correspond to each individual cell, the same way it changes
copied formulas.

 

[Budget Programmer]

Like,
Thanks very much. That did it. The big help was your statement "Setup the
rules as they would apply to the active cell (the cell within selected range
that is currently displayed in the formular bar)". That's not obvious to the
casual user, and that's not stated in any of the online help. Thanks again.
Phil