Forum Discussion
Formula to match cells COMPLETELY?
Hello.
I am desperately trying to find a way to have secondary cells match a primary cell COMPLETELY. What I mean by this is that I want ANY edits I make in the first cell to then carry over to the secondary cells.
So for example I have text in cell A1. I think click on cell C1 and enter in "=A1." So now the text carries over to C1 and wherever i move that cell in the worksheet it will match A1. That is good.
However when I go back to cell A1 and start editing the cell by doing things like underlining the text, changing the color of the text (or cell), those edits do not carry over to cell C1...And that's what I'm looking to do.
I'm not looking for an "IF" formula as excel does not need to read the initial cell of a condition or value. I simply want the second cell to MATCH ALL CHANGES I make in the first cell...And then keep matching the first cell no matter where I then move that cell throughout the Excel sheet.
Does this make sense? Can anyone help?
Thank you ,
Matt
I'm afraid that Excel does not offer such an option. You can use the Camera Tool to create a "live" image of a cell (or range) that will reflect changes to both the value and the formatting of that cell/range, but it will just be a picture, not a cell.
- mberksonCopper Contributor
Thanks Hans. I appreciate the suggestion, but unfortunately that won't accomplish what I need. The camera function will only capture a moment in time, but as I add new data to the original cells I need that to then update automatically in the secondary (copied) cells. Plus I will need to sort the secondary cells in a different order than the originals.
Pretty disappointing Excel doesn't have an option of fully matching cells. Seems like a no brainer as it would open up a host of very helpful options for the user.