How do you copy a conditional format rule down successive rows in a Numbers spreadsheet, maintaining continuity between two values within the same row?

Question

I have a spreadsheet with multiple rows and I want to copy a conditional format pattern on each row.
e.g.
Condition: row 1/col A (A1) = row 1/col BC (BC1). Conditional Format: Italic, Fill Green. Now I want to copy that to succeeding rows in my spreadsheet.
A2 = BC2 => Italic, Fill Green
A3 = BC3 => Italic, Fill Green ..... and so on.
I should be able to drag the format down through the spreadsheet, with the BC column increasing (2, 3, etc.) along with the A column, but that does not happen. if I try to drag the format through the spreadsheet, the BC column remains locked on BC1. You have to physically go into each iteration and change the BC column iteration. This is one major difference between Numbers and Excel. Never had the problem in Excel. I prefer Numbers, and that is why Im looking for help in this matter. Thanks much.
Eugene O'Connor

Answer 1

Hi Eugene,
This is the designed behaviour in Numbers. To register your desire for a change, Provide Numbers Feedback, using the link in the Numbers menu (in Numbers), or using the link in this message. Make a Feature Enhancement request.
There is a bit of shortcut in editing the cell references in the rules you have now:
Select all of the cells that will contain this rule.
Set up the rule for the first (A1), using BC1 as the cell reference.
Set up your table (hide columns) so that you can see both columns (A and BC ) while the Conditional format rules dialogue is open.
Starting at A2, use this loop:
- Click the BC1 reference in the rule to select it.
-Click on cell BCn in the table.
-Click the Edit button twice (toggles to Done, then back to Edit).
-Press the down arrow to move to the next cell.
-Repeat.
An even shorter method is to add a column before or after column A, use a formula to test if A1=BC1, etc. (which will increment as you fill down), then set the conditional rule for that columns cells to
Text is TRUE
Set default text colour to white, and conditional text colour to match the conditional fill colour. This will flag the cells matching your condition by colouring the adjacent cell (and hide the text by matching the background colour in both default and conditional modes).
Regards,
Barry