Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Copying Conditional Formatting.

Copying Conditional Formatting

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 6, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

In Excel, conditional formatting is considered part of the regular formatting of a cell. If you want to copy conditional formatting from one cell to another, you can do so by simply copying the cell and pasting it (or its format) to another cell. If you want to copy a conditional format to a range of cells (and only the conditional format), the easiest way to do so is by following these general steps:

  1. Select the range to which you want the conditional format copied. Make sure, however, that the cell whose conditional format you want copied is part of the range.
  2. Choose Conditional Format from the Format menu. You will see the Conditional Format dialog box. The format should already be filled in. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Conditional Formatting dialog box.

  3. Click your mouse on OK.

That's it. Excel does the rest and copies the conditional formatting, as you desired.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2797) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Copying Conditional Formatting.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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