How to use Formulas in Conditional Formatting in Excel [Top 6 Examples]

The best part of conditional formatting is you can use formulas in it.

And, it has a very simple sense to work with formulas.

Your formula should be a logical formula and the result should be in TRUE or FALSE.

If formula returns TRUE, you’ll get the formatting and if FALSE then nothing.

The point is, by using formulas you can make best out of conditional formatting.

Yes, that’s right.

In the below example, we have used a formula in CF to check whether the value in the cell is smaller than 1000 or not.

use formulas in conditional formatting to check if value is greater

And if that value is smaller than 1000 it will apply the formatting which we have specified, otherwise not.

So today in this post, I’d like to share with you simple steps to apply conditional formatting using a formula.

And some of the useful examples which you can use in your daily work.

…so let’s get started.

Table of Content

Steps to Apply CF with Formulas
Top 6 Examples of using Formulas in Conditional Formatting
Important Points to Remember
Sample File

Steps to Apply CF with Formulas

The steps to apply CF with formulas are quite simple:

Select the range to apply CF
Add a formula to text a condition
Specify a format to apply when the condition is met

how to apply conditional formatting using a formula

To learn this in proper way make sure to download this sample file from here and follow the below detailed steps.

First of all, select the range where you want to apply conditional formatting.

to apply conditional formatting using formulas select range

After that, go to Home Tab ➜ Styles ➜ Conditional Formatting ➜ New Rule ➜ Use a formula to determine which cell to format.

to apply conditional formatting using formulas click on new rule

Now, in the “Format values where formula is true” enter below formula.

=E5<1000

to apply conditional formatting using formulas enter formula

The next thing is to specify format to apply and for this, click on the format button and select the format.

to apply conditional formatting using formulas specify formatting

In the end, click OK.

PRO Tip: While entering a formula in CF dialog box you can’t see its result whether that formula is valid or not. So the best practice is to check that formula before using in CF by entering it in a cell.

Top 6 Example to use Formulas in Conditional Formatting

Here are some of the most useful examples which you can learn and use in the real world.

Use a Formula which is Based on Another Cell
Conditional Formatting using IF Function
Conditional Formatting by using Multiple Conditions
Highlight Alternate Rows with Conditional Formatting
Highlight Cells with Error using CF
Create a Checklist with Conditional Formatting

Check this out ➜ Top 100+ Excel Tips and Tricks which will Make You a PRO in 2018

(1) Use a Formula which is Based on Another Cell

Yes, you can apply conditional formatting based on another cell's value.

If you look at the below example, we have added a simple formula which is based on another cell.

And if the value of that linked cell meets the condition specified, you'll get conditional formatting.

apply conditional formatting with a formula using another cell

When achievement will be below 75%, it will highlight by the red color.

apply conditional formatting with a formula using another cell with percentage 75

(2) Conditional Formatting using IF

Whenever I think about conditions, the first thing comes to your mind is using IF function.

And the best part of this functions is, it fits perfectly in conditional formatting. Let me show you an example:

using formulas to apply conditional formatting with if

Here, we have used the IF to create a condition and the condition is when the count of “Done” in range B3:B9 is equal to the count of tasks in the range A3:A9, then the final status will appear.

this formula in conditional formatting will format cell when all the tasks are done

(3) Conditional Formatting by using Multiple Conditions

You can create multiple checks in condition to apply formatting.

Once all the conditions or one of the conditions will meet, conditional formatting will apply to the cell.

Look at the below example where we have used the average temperature of my town.

And we have used a simply combined IF-AND to highlight the months where the temperature is pretty pleasant.

Months where the temperature is within 15 Celsius to 35 Celsius, will get colored.

use if and formula in conditional formatting to highlight cell with temperatures

Just like this, you can also use if with or function.

(4) Highlight Alternate Rows with Conditional Formatting

To highlight every alternate row you can use following formula n CF.

=INT(MOD(ROW(),2))

By using this formula, every row whose number is odd will be highlighted. And, if you want to do vice versa you can use the following formula.

=INT(MOD(ROW()+1,2))

table with highlighted alternate rows using formula in conditional formatting

The same kind of formula you can use for columns (odd and even) as well.

=INT(MOD(COLUMN(),2))

And for even columns.

=INT(MOD(COLUMN()+1,2))

use conditional formatting highlight column alternate

(5) Highlight Cells with Error using CF

Now let’s come to another example where we will check whether a cell contains an error or not.

What we need to do is just insert a formula in conditional formatting that can check the condition and return the result in TRUE or FALSE.

You can even verify cells for numbers, text or some specific values as well.

highlight errors from cells using conditional formatting

(6) Create a Checklist with Conditional Formatting

Now let’s add some creativity in intelligence.

You have already learned how to use a formula which is based on some another cell.

Here we have linked a checkbox with B1 cell and further linked the B1 with the formula used in conditional formatting for cell A1.

checklist using conditional formatting and checkbox

Now if you tick mark the checkbox, the value of cell B1 will turn into TRUE and cell A1 gets it conditional formatting [strikethrough].

a dynamic checklist using formulas in conditional formatting

Points to Remember

Your formula should be a logical formula, which leads to a result as TRUE or FALSE.
Try not to overload your data with conditional formatting.
Always use relative and absolute references in a proper sense.

Sample File

Download this sample file from here to learn more

Conclusion

Conditional formatting is an awesome tool and by using a formula in it you can make best out of it.

I’m pretty sure that above-mentioned examples will inspire you to use it more frequently in your work.

Now, tell me one thing.

Have you ever used formula in CF?

Please share your views with me in the comment section. I'd love to hear from you, and please, don’t forget to share this post with your friends, I am sure they will appreciate it.

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About the Author

Puneet Gogia

Puneet is using Excel since his college days. He helped thousands of people to understand the power of the spreadsheets and learn Microsoft Excel. You can ﬁnd him online, tweeting about Excel, on a running track, or sometimes hiking up a mountain.

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How to use Formulas in Conditional Formatting in Excel