I think you could use conditional formatting but I did not quite follow what
you meant by
(1) "This number then is used in formulas to sum columns 1-12, depending on
what the number is I have entered"
Suppose it is A1 that has the magic number, and its value is 6; then you add
cells B1 to B6 (or something like this)?
or
(2) "Say fill the cell with a colour, above each column that is being summed
as described above so that the columns that are not being summed have a
blank cell above them?"
What is in the cells that are to become blank? Conditional formatting could
change the font colour to make them invisible but it cannot remove values.
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme
remove caps from email


"MurrayBarn" wrote in message
...
I have a workbook with multiple sheets. On one sheet, I have a cell where
I
manually change the contents from 1 to 12 (corresponding to months of the
year). This number then is used in formulas to sum columns 1-12, depending
on
what the number is I have entered.

Is there a way to format a cell, say fill the cell with a colour, above
each
column that is being summed as described above so that the columns that
are
not being summed have a blank cell above them?