Suggest you use an adjacent col to check for "Overdue".

Assuming "Due dates" running in A2 down (these are assumed real dates), and
B2 down contains the DV selections for the projects' Status: Not started,
Pending, Completed

Put in C2:
=IF(AND(A2<"",TODAY()A2,B2<"Completed"),"Overdu e","")
Copy C2 down to cover the max expected extent of data in cols A and B

Then apply the CF like this ..

Select the entire sheet (ensure A1 is active)

Click Format Cond Formatting
Under Condition 1, make it as:
Formula is: =$C1="Overdue"
Format: Red fill/ white font, bolded, OK out

--
Max
Singapore
http://savefile.com/projects/236895
xdemechanik
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"KATE MCL" wrote:
Can anyone tell me how I can go about setting up a formula in excel 2003 for
the following:

In my action plan spreadsheet 2 of the columns are a due date column & a
status column. I am trying to get cells in the status column (which has a
drop down list of items to select from) to automatically change to OVERDUE
when the due date is reached. These 2 columns are next to each other. Can
this be done?

Also, I would love once a cell in the status column reads OVERDUE for that
row to be highlighted in red. Is that asking too much???

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Kate