Actually, you shouldn't need the 0 or =0. Any non zero number will be seen
as True and zero as false. so
=COUNTIF($A1,"*total*")

should work fine. However, it seems more expanatory to include 0 or =1,
but I guess not for you.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy






"smonczka" wrote in message
oups.com...
Tom and Peter, thanks both of you. I ended up using
=countif($A1,"*total*")0 as the conditional formula. For all those
who might be having the same problem the $A1 highlights the entire row
where and cell in column A contains the word total.

But what I dont understand is the addition of 0 or =1 to the formula,
what does that do?

Thanks again guys.
Steve