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ebkay82's avatar
ebkay82
Copper Contributor
Jan 25, 2024

How to Format AutoFill Options in Excel

I'm looking for a way to auto fill (highlight) the entire row a particular color based on the value entered in a cell on that line. For instance, I want every row highlighted blue where there's a number "7" entered in column "b" of that row, every row highlighted yellow where there's a "5" entered in column b of that row, and so on. 

 

The number entered in column b should determine the color of the auto fill (highlight) of the row. 

  • ebkay82 

    Excel does not have a way to do this automatically - you have to create a conditional formatting rule for each value.

    Let's say you want to apply this to rows 2 to 100. Select these rows.

    The active cell in the selection should be in row 2.

     

    On the Home tab of the ribbon, click Conditional Formatting > New Rule...
    Select 'Use a formula to determine which cells to format'.
    Enter the formula

    =$B2=7

    Click Format...
    Activate the Fill tab.
    Select blue as highlight color.
    Click OK, then click OK again.

     

    Repeat these steps with the formula =$B2=5 and yellow as highlight color.

     

    Etc.

  • ebkay82 

    Excel does not have a way to do this automatically - you have to create a conditional formatting rule for each value.

    Let's say you want to apply this to rows 2 to 100. Select these rows.

    The active cell in the selection should be in row 2.

     

    On the Home tab of the ribbon, click Conditional Formatting > New Rule...
    Select 'Use a formula to determine which cells to format'.
    Enter the formula

    =$B2=7

    Click Format...
    Activate the Fill tab.
    Select blue as highlight color.
    Click OK, then click OK again.

     

    Repeat these steps with the formula =$B2=5 and yellow as highlight color.

     

    Etc.

    • ebkay82's avatar
      ebkay82
      Copper Contributor
      Hello again - I tried that, and it seems to overwrite the formatting with the last one I entered. For instance, if I set up formatting so 3=fill in yellow, 4=fill in blue, and 5=fill in grey, it overwrites the colors for 3 and 4 with grey.

      • ebkay82 

        Since a cell cannot have multiple values at once, only one of the rules should be applied.

        Could you attach a small sample workbook demonstrating the problem (without sensitive data), or if that is not possible, make it available through OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or similar?

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