Do it in one condition.

=AND(LEN(B4)<9,NOT(ISBLANK(B4)))


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:15:01 -0800, RM270
wrote:

Thanks Jim! Works perfectly! But I forgot about empty cells. I don't want
them to turn a color if len=0. Should I make two conditions to cover that?
Does it matter which one come first?

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Conditional formats want functions that return true of false. To that end you
do not need the if function. Try this formula

=len(b4)<9

as it will return true or false
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"RM270" wrote:

I am working with a large list in Excel 2003. One column is formatted as
general. Each cell in the column has numbers in it that look like this:
1234-1234. I want to have the cell turn red if there are not nine characters
in it.

I have selected conditinal formatting for the cell. I use fomula
=if(len(B4)<9) and tell it to make the cell red. It doesn't work. Can anyone
help me figure out why?

Thanks for any help given.