Creating a conditional format rule dependant on adjecent cell

Hi,
I am trying to create a conditional format rule that changes colour dependant if the number in the cell is equal to, greater than or less than the number in the adjacent cell. I get that I can create a cell reference in the format rule (cell c2 is "greater than B2" for example) - but when I try to copy paste the style down the column, it references the first cell (B2) always. It leads me to having to change the rule individually. Is there a quick way of creating a conditional format rule that is dependant in the adjacent cell, and copy it along the whole column. I hope I have made myself clear!!
Thanks

you can make a secondary table that performs the conditional test, shades a cell and is slide behind the original table to do the shading:
The formula in the table on the right (the "Shader Table") is:
B1=IF(Original :: B1>Original :: A1, "H", IF(Original :: B1<Original :: A1, "L", "E"))
B2=IF(Original :: C1>Original :: B1, "H", IF(Original :: C1<Original :: B1, "L", "E"))
select B1 and B2, then fill down
Now select the range of cells B1 thru C9 and apply conditional formatting as shown.
Select the table "Original" and make the fill for the table "None" so that it is see through. Now send the "Shader Table" to the back by using the menu item "Arrange > Send To Back" then slide the table under the "Original" Table

Similar Messages

HT4648 So if you import a numbers document from a mac to iPad which has a conditional format rule such as a cell with a score between 1-10 fills with the colour black will still work on the iPad? Not being able to edit it just means you can't change this

I want to use numbers on my iPad mini for a team I coach. I have a spreadsheet on my mac I want to import onto the iPad mini for players to enter in wellness ratings. On this spreadsheet (on the mac) I have a conditioning formatting rule that when a player enters in their numbers the cells fill with black so others can't see their entries (to maintain privacy). Will this function import across onto iPad numbers? From the discussion I saw on this site it only partly answers my question stating "it cannot be edited" does this mean the conditional formatting rule cannot be changed and therefore will still work or the whole spreadsheet can't be edited and you can only view the spreadsheet and make no new entries to it?

Yes, I have posted this thread to different forums after I realized that Lenovo "customer care" is not likely to help me out and even wirelessforums.org members couldn't come up with any ideas for days, that's why. I have already written that helper applications like SMAC (or etherchange or macshift) don't work, because they do the same thing in the system as I change it in the driver panel, so they use the same method which simply does not work.
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I have already contacted Broadcom, see their (automatically-generated) answer in my initial post, but I will try to do that again with more foresight.

Is it possible to save a set of conditional format rules in Numbers?

I am a doctor, and I have a call schedule that comes out each month (in an Excel spreadsheet). So, I want to open up the spreadsheet in Numbers and have each instance of my name (Smith) highlighted, by setting the background of the cell to a fluorescent yellow. This is easy to do by using conditional formatting, and it works well.
My problem is that each time I want to use the same conditional formatting rule, I have to manually set it up. I would like to be able to save the 'rule', ideally linked to a toolbar button, so that I can run this conditional formatting on any Numbers spreadsheet with one (or two) click(s).
Does anyone know if this is possible?

Create a table with the conditional rules then use Format > Advanced > Capture Table
Each time you will create a new table from the captured table it will have all the source's attributes.
Of course, you must save in the native Numbers format.
If you export as Excel most of these settings will be lost.
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE vendredi 9 janvier 2009 19:44:05)

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

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

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

Paste Conditional Format rule wipes out existing formula... & vice versa.

As far as I can see there is no way to copy an already established conditional formatting rule onto a cell that already has a formula entered without wiping out the formula. And when you set the formatting rule first and then paste in the formula, it wipes out the conditional formatting rule.
Surely this is not too much to ask -- or am I missing something here?

Badunit, thank you for the info about Paste and Match Style. That works very nicely. Interestingly, I don't believe the specific use of the command for this purpose is documented in the manual, though it certainly should be.
Yvan, I have read everything the manual has to say about conditional formatting three or four times over, and yes, I know that the function is available via the Inspector as well as under the Format menu.
You are mistaken, however regarding copy and paste.
Conditional formatting is indeed transferrable via copy and paste, as you will find if you try it, and as is mentioned in the manual at the bottom of page 82. And pasting a function into a cell with conditional formatting deletes that formatting. So Badunit's suggestion is the only solution to avoid having to re-enter either the formula (very large) or the formatting rules. In this instance there were 14 rules in force, and re-entering them was tedious.
A little less rushing to judgement - and a little more courtesy, please.

Conditional format rules for ipad

When using numbers on my Mac book pro I can set cells to automatically hi light once they reach a certain value such as 300 then the cell turns yellow. My problem comes when using numbers on my iPad which is what I'll usually be doing. For some reason that function does not sync via iCloud from numbers for Mac to numbers for the iPad. Evrything else works great but i have no way to check whether I've reached my parts quota at a glance. I have to go down the list and check all the values against the value i need. This is really a hassle when i know the function works in one version of numbers but not in another. Is there a way to sync that or is there an update in the works that will allow this function? Thanks in advance for the help.

As far as I know, conditional formatting isn't supported by Numbers for iOS.
Ask in the forum dedicated to iWork for iOS to check that.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) mardi 10 janvier 2012
iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 12 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.2
For iWork's applications dedicated to iOS, go to :
https://discussions.apple.com/community/app_store/iwork_for_ios

Conditional Formatting - change color for matching cell

I have two sheets, Sheet1 and Sheet2.
Sheet1 contains the following data:
abc
def
ghi
jkl
mno
pqr
stu
vwx
yz
Sheet2 contains the following:
abc
ghi
jkl
mno
pqr
yz
I want to apply conditional formatting in Sheet1 for matches in Sheet2, so that for each match, the cell's fill color is changed to, say green.
I select the entire range in Sheet1 and as a New Formatting Rule, choose Cell Value equal to = Sheet2!$A$2:$A$6
However, this throws the following error:
"This type of reference cannot be used in a Conditional Formatting formula.
Change the reference to a single cell, or use the reference with a worksheet function, such as =SUM(A1:E5)"
Any help here is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Use the formula:
=ISNUMBER(MATCH(A1,Sheet2!$A$1:$A$6,0))

Conditional Formating a row if a cell is blank

How to Color an entire row if a particular cell in the row is blank ??

If you don't want extra rows in your table and just want a clean, two-click solution, then AppleScript is good at conditional coloring of rows.
Here, a script colors rows whose column C (column 3) is blank, like this:
a
b
c
d
1
2
4
1
3
4
a
b
d
1
3
4
This is the script:
property startRow : 2 -- to skip a header row
property columnToTest : 3 --column C, change as needed, 2 for B, 4 for D, etc.
property highlightColor : "red"
tell application "Numbers"
try
set t to front document's active sheet's first table whose selection range's class is range
tell t to repeat with r from startRow to row count
    set v to row r's cells's value
    if v's item columnToTest is missing value then
      set row r's background color to highlightColor
    end if
end repeat
end try
end tell
To use it all that is needed is:
Copy and paste into AppleScript Editor
Click once anywhere in the table (to tell the script what table you mean)
Click the green triangle 'Run' button.
(Change color and column as desired in properties.)
That's all it takes!
SG

Is it possible to conditional format more than one cell at a time?

I'd like to use conditional formatting to compare the value in cell E3 with the valve in cell D3. Then I'd like to copy the conditional formatting rule I made in cell E3 to cells E4 E5 E6 E7 ETC. I'd like the E4 to compare to D4. E5 to compare to D5 and so on. Is there an easy way to do this other than creating the rule for each cell?

Easier, yes. Instant, no.
Assuming the only thing that will change in the rule from one cell to the next is the reference to the comparison cell, do this:
Select all of the cells to be formatted.
Set the comparison rule to apply to D3.
At this point all the selected cells in column D will base their conditional formatting on a comparison with the value in E3. The next step is to edit the rules for D4, D5, etc.
Select cell D4.
In the rule statement, click on the cell reference E3 to select it, then click on the correct comparison cell for the selected cell (E4 for D4) to replace the reference.
Repeat with the next cell in column D.
Regards,
Barry

Can I use conditional formatting in OWA?

Can I use conditional forwarding for emails in OWA. I would like to set up rules in OWA that will allow certain messages to change their display upon receipt.

Hi,
Based on my knowledge, I'm afraid that we can't do it via OWA. You need to setup the conditional formatting on Outlook. Here is the steps for your reference.
On the View tab, in the Current View group, click View Settings, and then click Conditional Formatting. Click Add to create a conditional formatting rule.
For more information, here is a blog for your reference.
Conditional Formatting: Highlight your most important mails
http://blogs.office.com/2012/05/10/conditional-formatting-highlight-your-most-important-mails/
Hope it helps.
Best regards,
Amy
Amy Wang
TechNet Community Support

Conditional formatting: greatest and lowest values in a column?

I have a column of data, with about 30 rows of values. Is it possible to setup conditional formatting so that Numbers highlights the top three highest values and the lowest three values in the column?
thanks!

How's this:
1. Create the second table for the large and small formulas. I did one column, you should be able to copy it to the rest of them.
2. Create the conditional format for the first data cell in the first row of your data table (go to the cell inspector and choose "show rules" to get to the conditional formatting pane).
3. Select the cell, Copy Style, select all the other data cells in the row and Paste Style to copy that conditional format to the other columns. At this point, the conditional format in the other columns will be incorrect (they will all refer to the large/small values for the first column), you'll have to modify each manually so they refer to the correct cells in the "large/small" table.
4. Copy Style and Paste Style each of those conditional formats to the rest of the cells in each column.
One caveat: You may get more than three smallest/largest values highlighted under certain conditions. For instance if you have four 1's and "1" is your smallest value, all four would get highlighted. If you have two 1's and two 2's, and they are your smallest values all four would get highlighted. If you have 1,2,3,3 and they are your smallest values you would also get four highlighted. Similar case for the largest values. It doesn't appearthat this would be a problem for your data.

Can conditional formatting detect formulas?

I have a spreadsheet for home accounts/debts etc, and I like to put forward calculations in columns so I can get an idea of how long it will take to pay off debts. These forward calculations are formulas based on APRs etc, and I manually format them in grey italics. When a bill comes in with the actual amount on it, that formula gets replaced with the bill amount, and I switch the format to black plain text so I can see it's an actual value.
Is there any way, using conditional formatting or otherwise, I can automate this so that when I type in a real value it can detect it's not a formula and reformat the cell?
Thanks!

No.
Conditional format rules depend on comparing the value contained in the cell, and pay no attention to how that value got there.
That said, it might be possible to examine the value and determine whether it was entered directly or formula generated. If the value in the cell is NOT equal to the value in the cell rounded to two decimal places, then chances are the value was generated by a formula. Not perfect, as it will not detect generated values that are exact to zero, one or two decimal places (eg. 12.00000, 12.10000, 12,12000, etc), and won't find any values where the formula itself actually rounds (as opposed to 'displays') its result to two (or fewer) decimal places.
Here's an example:
As indicated in column A. the values in B2 and B3 are entered numbers, those in B4 and B5 are calculated. Column B is formatted to DISPLAY these numbers as Currency, with the usual two decimal places.
Column C uses the formula =B to transfer the actual values in column B. Formatting is set to automatic.
Column D uses the formula =ROUND(B,2) which rounds the values in column B to two decimal places. Formatting is set to automatic, so what is shown is the actual value.
The conditional formatting rule, shown for cell B5, compares the actual value in column B with its rounded counterpart in column D. If they are the same, the assumption (wrong, in this case) is that the value was entered, and the rule applies bold style to the text and a light grey fill to the cell. If they are different, no change is made.
Note that there's some tedium involved in setting this up, as the rule for each cell uses a different comparison cell, and these must be set (or reset) individually.
Regards,
Barry

Copying formatting from conditional formatting without the rules

I tend to use a lot of conditional formatting in my spreadsheets. Unfortunately, this leads to two problems:
1) I need more rules than are allowed (this seems to be related to the height of my screen... probably because the dialog box doesn't have a scrollbar)
2) This really, really slows things down, especially when combined with cell references, and particularly when I'm trying to rearrange cells (as far as I can see Numbers has a tendency to freeze and/or blank out the table I'm working on)
The easiest way I can see out of my predicament would be to somehow remove the conditional formatting rules while keeping the actual formatting... like copy-and-pasting values instead of the actual cells (with intact formulae). Is this possible? And if possible, how would I go about doing it?
Thanks in advance!

Up to 15 rules can be set for conditional formating of a cell.
1)
Considering that the usual purpose of conditional formatting is to flag 'unusual' values, and to make the 'condition' instantly visible and recognizable, that seems an over generous number. If a cell or group of cells on your table 'needs' more than 15 possible formats (the base format and 15 others based on rules), perhaps what's needed is a re-thinking of why that many are needed, and whether having that many formats adequately answers that 'why'.
If you really do need that many, you can set then, even if your display height is filled with fewer than that. Additional rules may be inserted after any existing rule, not just the last one. note, though, that the conditions are evaluated in the order the rules are listed, from top to bottom, and the format is set by the first rule encountered whose condition is met.
2)
Not surprising. Numbers recalculates the entire table each time a value in the table is changed. That calculation includes through each list of conditional formatting rules until a match is found (or the end of the list is reached), and includes setting the new format for each affected cell.
3)
Not that I'm aware of. The base format of the cell may be copied (option-command-C) and pasted elsewhere (option-command-V), and that pair of operations will include any conditional format rules that had been set for the original cell.
But conditional formatting is just that—a set of rules that applies a set of attributes to a cell when a specific condition is met. The applied format exists only when the condition is met, and can't be copied except by copying the rule—actually the whole set of rules for that cell—which puts you no further ahead.
3a) You could, of course, change the base format of the cell to match the colour and style applied by the conditional rule, then clear the conditional format rules for that cell or set of cells. That would 'remove the rules while keeping the (applied) formatting', and would leave the formulas intact. seems to me a game not worth the candle, though.
Regards,
Barry

Copy/paste style doesn't work for conditional formatting with cell refs

I created a conditional format on a cell (B3) that compares its value to the value of a cell above it (B2).
If I 'Copy Style' and paste that style into the cell beside it (C3), the conditional formatting still refers to B2. If I want to do this for a whole row of cells then I have to manually edit the cell reference in the conditional formatting for each cell.
Anyone else seen this behaviour? It makes me think of going back to Excel.

Don't know if you'd consider this a 'workaround' or simply a way to do what the OP asks with as little fuss as possible.
I created a conditional format on a cell (B3) that compares its value to the value of a cell above it (B2).
If I 'Copy Style' and paste that style into the cell beside it (C3), the conditional formatting still refers to B2...
The desire is to have each cell in row 3 formatted depending on a comparison with the cell directly above it. If each comparison is the same (eg, Equal to), and the 'true' action for each is the same (eg. Fill with yellow), the following will save some effort:
Select the whole row, B3:G3 (or further).
Set the conditional format rule to
Equal to | B2
And the action for Fill yellow.
Click Done.
With the conditional formatting dialogue still open, select C3. You may also want to move the dialogue window up to just below row 3.
Repeat these three steps:
Click on the B2 reference in the dialogue.
Click on cell C2 in the table.
Press the right arrow to move the selection to D3.
Click on the B2 reference in the dialogue.
Click on cell D2 in the table.
Press the right arrow to move the selection to E3.
etc.
Regards,
Barry

Conditional format of one cell based on contents of another cell

Preparing list of appointments for visitors with time for each. There are four possible status categories for visitors based on projected activity and whether they have shown up or not. (A Group Scheduled, A Group Showed, B Group Scheduled, B Group Showed). I've created the calendar in iCal with different calendars, then accessed that through Bento iCal Events. Bento adds the column with name of calendar from iCal. Info is now in Numbers. (iWorks 09)
It shows Title, Start Date, Location, Calendar. I'm adding more fields using Lookup in Numbers drawing on entire data base brought over from Bento. I'm trying to get what info I need, but none that I don't, so the form isn't too crowded and busy.
I would like to be able to conditionally format the Time column based on the contents of the Calendar column. If successful, the color of the Time column would tell me all I need to know about visitor status, and I could hide the Calendar column and clean up the form.
I hope I've described it adequately. Can this be done, and if so, how?
Thanks! Have a great Thanksgiving!

jpcranch wrote:
Does it work to format two cells based on contents of one of them?
Conditional formatting of a cell depends on the contents of that individual cell, compared with another value, so no.
But you could use a two-table approach.
In general terms, the technique is to:
• make the original table's cell fill transparent,
• Add a second table to the sheet,
• Set the second table to copy the control values into a column of cells,
• Select the cells in that column of Table 2,
• Apply conditional formatting rules for each possible control value (see below)
• Set the text opacity for these cells to 0 (full transparency),
• Click on Table 2 in the sidebar, then use (shift and) the arrow keys to slide Table 2 behind Table 1 to align the highlighted cells with the cells to appear highlighted in Table 1.
• Set the colour of the cell borders on table 2 to none.
Using the information you gave regarding the calendar column, you'll need four rules for conditional formatting of this column. All are of the same format:
Text contains: A Group Scheduled
With the text changed to match each possible entry.
Regards,
Barry
BTW: by changing the width of the formatted column on table 2, you can appear to highlight as many columns as you wish on Table 1.

Creating a conditional format rule dependant on adjecent cell

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