Specifically, the 5 row sets are readings from 4 different sources plus a
date/time row.
The reason the rows recur is that the readings are reinitiated periodically.
The reason for the text is that if a reading is missing (or eccentric) a
word or two may be inserted.
Each of the conditions has the range of $B$9:whatever, expanding as new sets
are initiated.

Biff, thank you for your stab at a solution (a compound formula is what I'd
like to do), but it still leaves me up in the air as to what the
"relative_cell_reference" might be, how I would code it -- see above for my
desperate attempt with CELL. That's really the crux of my problem: How can I
make a general reference to a cell's value in a manner analagous to the way
the function ROW() operates in order that the CF fires only for numeric
values?

I'm afraid my perspective is in a rut; I need a new way of seeing. I hope
the added information will help you to help me.

Thanks again,

aj

"T. Valko" wrote:

I can't follow what you're doing with this very well but you can try to
combine the 2 conditions into 1 condition:

Instead of separate rules for:

'Cell Value' | 'less than' | 116
'Use a formula...' =MOD(ROW()-9,5)=0

Combine them into a single "Use a formula" rule:

=AND(relative_cell_reference<116,MOD(ROW()-9,5)=0)

Note that if the cell is empty it will evaluate to be <116. To account for
that:

=AND(relative_cell_reference<"",relative_cell_ref erence<116,MOD(ROW()-9,5)=0)

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"aj scott" <aj wrote in message
...

What's wrong:
--- All text in Row 1 meets that criterion! Actually, I'm sure it's not
paying attention to the "< 116", only to the MOD.

I don't want text to be CFd. Can I "AND" in a test for "ISNUMBER"? I
can't
use ROW with it, because it's the cell level that has to be tested.
I tried preceding the problem rule with a rule to test for text, but it's
really bogus, =ISTEXT(CELL(0)), and doesn't work. Help, anyone?