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.

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.

Make sure you have no absolute referencing happening.

i.e. =A1="x"

NOT =$A$1="x"


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:01:03 -0700, 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.

Thanks Jim, that certainly helped me figure out.
I just put the row # like this...=$A$12 = "X"
It turns on the ones I highlighted before I implement the Conditional Format.
btw, what does the $ represent?

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

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.

I found one problem...
I highlight A7, I7-V7 then conditional format with =$A$7 = "X" and it
highlights purple perfectly when an X is placed in cell A7, but I need to
apply the another condition on the same line this way B7, I7-V7 and apply
condition with =$B$7 = "X" to highlight green if cell B7 has an "X". I have
to perform the same condition on line 7 for C7, D7, E7, F7 and G7 with
different colors if an "X" is placed in either one of those cells. If I
apply another condition to B7, it erases or ignores the condition I placed
earlier on A7. Is there an answer?

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

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.

I tried that Gord, but it only highlighted cell I7 (using row 7), need all
cells I choose prior to condition. Whereas, Jims did what I needed but still
have an issue, see my second response.

"Gord Dibben" wrote:

Make sure you have no absolute referencing happening.

i.e. =A1="x"

NOT =$A$1="x"


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:01:03 -0700, 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.