i think you will need a simple macro to do this ie paste
special-formats,paste special value
--
hope this helps
Paul


"kevinm" wrote:

I have two worksheets, I have entered the formula for a cell on the 2nd
worksheet so that the cell contents are copied from a cell on the first
worksheet.

e.g. =(Sheet1!B1)

When I update the contents of the cell on the first worksheet the contents
of the cell on the 2nd sheet are updated automatically .. so far so good ..

Now, what I really want to do is have the format of the cell on the first
sheet (and NOT it's contents) copied to the cell on the 2nd worksheet. When I
change the format of the cell on the 1st worksheet I want the cell on the 2nd
sheet to update automatically.

The reason for needing this behaviour is as follows:

Sheet 1 is used to represent a collection of signal pins of a computer chip
I am working on. These signals can be grouped together according to similar
function and I color format these according their function. (there are about
600 pins which are grouped by function and represented by about ten different
colors).

Sheet2 is a physical view of the computer chip. I want it to be able to
reassign signals on the first sheet and have Excel automatically update the
color format of the cells on the second sheet. This way I can quickly see how
changing the pin assignment is reflected in the physical view of the chip.

e.g.

Sheet 1, A1 is a signal named 'A', it is formatted BLUE
Sheet 2, AA10 shows the format of cell A1 on sheet1, i.e. BLUE

Suppose I decide to change A1 on sheet1 to a different signal (B), but this
signal is of type RED. What I want to see is Excel automatically update AA10
on sheet2 so that its format is RED.

Is it possible to do this in Excel?

thanks,

Kevin