Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 11, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Graham described a problem he was having with a worksheet. He wanted to use conditional formatting to highlight all the cells in a row, if the value in column E was greater than a particular value. He was having problems coming up with the proper way to do that.
Suppose for a moment that your data is in cells A3:H50. You can apply the proper conditional formatting by following these steps:
Figure 1. The Conditional Formatting dialog box.
=$E3>40000
Figure 2. The Format Cells dialog box.
This formula used in the conditional format works because you use the absolute indicator (the dollar sign) just before the column letter. Any reference that has the $ before it is not changed when Excel propagates it throughout a range. In this case, the cell reference will always be to column E, although the row portion of the reference can change.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2798) 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: Conditionally Formatting an Entire Row.
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