Hi Ak,

hi - hope someone can help!
i've got 5 cells in a row - i want to be able to input a number ( 1 to
5 ) into the 6th cell and automatically colour in the respective cell.
for example if i input number 3 - then i want cell number 3 to change
colour and all the rest to remain unfilled.

You could use the formula option of the conditional format and use this
formula (this assumes your cells are in A:E and the cell with the number
is in F1):

=COLUMN()=$F$1

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com