Just follow the below steps.

Place the cursor in A2 cell and extend the selection by holding the shift
and down arrow upto A5000, keep in mind that the active cell should be A2
(Active cell will have a white background after selection also) now goto
formatconditional formattingCondition 1Formula ispaste the below
formula
=EXACT($B2,$C2)
Click FormatFontColourGreen and give ok.

Then Click AddCondition 2 Formula ispaste the below formula
=EXACT($B2,$C2)=FALSE
Click FormatFontColourRed and give ok and once again hit ok.

That's it! The conditional formatting is applied for A2 to A5000 cells.

Remember to Click Yes, if this post helps!

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(Ms-Exl-Learner)
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"Vince Pacella" wrote:

I have three columns that I'm concerned with A, B, C

Column A is what I want to format with coloriing. It's Value is irrelevent.

For A2
The Condition is "Green" colors if formula =EXACT(B2,C2)
The Condition is "RED"colors if formula =EXACT(B2,C2) == FALSE

That works fine.

In Manage Rules it says
Applies: $A$2
Forumla: =EXACT(B2,C2)

It's when I copy/paste the format down column A for teh thousands of rows
that I get a single rule made:

Applies to: $A$3:$A$5000
Foruma: =EXACT($B3:$C3)

I tried playing with the dollar signs, but I can never get the Formula to
have the right row reference for a given row in the range