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Formatting an Excel drop down list that only changes the color of the cell
Hey everyone,
I have a question regarding formatting a drop down list in Excel. I understand how to make a list and how to color code it.
My challenge is, I need a drop down list that only gives various colors as options. When selecting the color from the drop down list it should change the cell color only and not the data within.
Is this possible??
-Cassandra
1 Reply
- Here is a small example in the file and instructions:
Write the desired colors in cells one below the other (as text, "red" and so on).Then mark the column -> Conditional formatting -> Rules for highlighting cells -> Equal ... -> enter the text color here and select the formatting next to it.Light red, yellow and green already exist, all other formatting has to be done by hand.
With every formatting the font color is set to the same color as the background color.I memorized the 3 color values of the background when filling in -> other colors ... and entered these values for the font color -> other colors ...
Now, thanks to user-defined formatting, all cells are filled with one color, even though there is text in them.
Now mark these colored cells, formulas -> define names -> enter any name.
Mark the desired column that should contain the color dropdowns, select Data -> Data check -> under Allow “List” and enter a = followed by the name of the list in the Source field.Now every cell should have a dropdown with the names of the colors.
Now the conditional formatting of the color cells must be copied to the desired column.To do this, mark the colored cells, transfer format -> click on the column header of the desired column.
If a color is now selected in the dropdown, the formatting takes effect again, the colored text is no longer visible (unless several cells are selected).Hope I was able to help you and would be happy to know if I could help you.
I would be happy to know if I could help.
Nikolino
I know I don't know anything (Socrates)
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