This was easy to do in earlier versions of Excel but I cannot find how to do
it in Excel 2007.

I have around 50 columns of data with several hundred values in each column.
At the bottom of each column (always in the 524th row) I have a "threshold
value". The threshold value is different for each column. I want to
highlight values in the column that are above the threshold value for that
column.

This is easy to do for one column at a time, but using the format paintbrush
does not copy the appropriate formula, even if I take care to make the
comparison cell partially relative (e.g., A$524 rather than $A$524).

Can anybody help?