Assuming you want your formatting based on external cells you need to use
Formula Is instead of Cell Value Is

=$A$1 = "X"

will apply the format to any cell you want when Cell A1 has an X in it. By
using different combinations of absolute and relative referencing you should
be able to do what you want with minimal of effort.
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Geauxfish" wrote:

I figured part of this out under conditional formating. I have Excel 2003,
but when I highlight the cells with data I want to turn color, including the
cell I will place an "X" they don't change color. I can only get the cell
that I was in before I performed the "Conditional Formating" to turn color
when I placed an "X" in it. How do I get other cells to change color that
has data.