Highlight Cells If (Conditional Formatting) – Excel & Google Sheets

Written by

Mel Jenkins

Reviewed by

Laura Tsitlidze

Last updated on July 9, 2022

This tutorial will demonstrate how to highlight cells if a condition is met using Conditional Formatting in Excel and Google Sheets.

 

highlight cells if master

 

Highlight Cells – IF Function

To highlight cells depending on the value contained in that cell with conditional formatting, you can use the IF Function within a Conditional Formatting rule.

  1. Select the range you want to apply formatting to.
  2. In the Ribbon, select Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule.

 

highlight cells if menu

 

  1. Select Use a formula to determine which cells to format, and enter the formula:
=IF(B4>5,TRUE,FALSE)

 

highlight cells if formula

 

  1. Click the Format button and select your desired formatting.

 

conditional formatting greater less than format

 

  1. Click OK, then OK again to return to the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager.

 

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  1. Click Apply to apply the formatting to your selected range and then click Close.

 

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Every cell in the range selected that has a value greater than 5 will have its background color changed to yellow.

Highlight Cells If – Google Sheets

The process to highlight cells based on the value contained in that cell in Google Sheets is similar to the process in Excel.

  1. Highlight the cells you wish to format, and then click on Format > Conditional Formatting.

 

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  1. The Apply to Range section will already be filled in.

 

google sheets not equal to range

 

  1. From the Format Rules section, select Custom Formula.

 

google sheets highlight cells if formula

 

  1. Select the fill style for the cells that meet the criteria.

 

google sheets not equal to format

 

  1. Click Done to apply the rule.

 

google sheets highlight cells if final

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