Conditional formatting.

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Wilson
  • Start date Start date
G

George Wilson

I am using Excel XP and would like to use conditional
formatting to change the background color of some cells
according to their value. I would like to have more than
one value to meet formatting conditions, but when I try to
choose a range of values I get the Excel error: you cannot
use a direct reference to a worksheet range in a
Conditional Formatting formula. Change the reerence to a
single cell, or use the reference with a worksheet
function, such as =SUM(A1:E5) Can this be set up to work
with a range of cells? Can I use some kind of wild card in
the reference to set the conditional formatting based on
the first charachter in the cell and not all the content.
For example if the cell contents starts with A then format
like this, if it starts with B then format like that. Any
suggestions would be appreciated.
George
 
George,

You can use any formula that returns TRUE or FALSE, using the "Formula Is"
option, along the lines of:

=UPPER(LEFT(A1,1))="A"

=UPPER(LEFT(A1,1))="B"

Set your format as you like and this should work well.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP
 
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