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Format Row Based on One Cell

How do you highlight a row based on a cell value in Excel? You can set up conditional formatting that checks the value in one cell, and applies formatting to other cells, based on that value. For example, if the values in column B are greater than 75, make all data cells in the same row blue. The video and notes below show you the easy steps.

Format Entire Row with Conditional Formatting

In Microsoft Excel, with a few easy steps, you can apply conditional formatting that checks the value in one cell, and applies formatting to other cells, based on that value. For example, if the values in column B greater than 75, make all data cells in the same row blue.

This technique can make key information stand out on your Excel worksheets.

Video: Format Row with Conditional Formatting

To see how to set up the conditional formatting, you can watch the steps in this video, and the written instructions are below the video. The full transcript is also available below.

Format the Cells

In this example, we'll colour cells blue, if the number of units, in column B, is greater than 75. At a glance, we'll be able to see which rows have a high number of units.

Follow these steps to get started with the conditional formatting rule:

• Select the cells that you want to format, A2:D8 in this example -- the entire data set, without the heading cells
• On the Ribbon's Home tab, in the Styles group, click the Conditional Formatting drop down arrow

• Next, near the bottom of the list, click the New Rule... command

New Formatting Rule Dialog Box

The New Formatting Rule window opens, where you can enter the conditional formatting rule details

• In the top section, Select a Rule Type, click on the last option:
  • Use a Formula to Determine Which Cells to Format

The lower section, Edit the Rule Description, changes automatically.

Now it shows a box where you can enter your custom formula:

• Click in the box below the heading, Format values where this formula is true

Enter Conditional Formatting Formula

Any conditional formatting formula must be a test, that gives a TRUE or FALSE result.

For this conditional formatting rule, the formula will do a simple check:

• Is the number of units, in column B, greater than 75?
  • TRUE or FALSE

Row and Column Reference

Before you create a conditional formatting rule, it's important to check which cell is active on the worksheet.

If the formula will have cell references, they might need to refer to the active cell's row and/or column

• In this example, cells A2:D8 are selected
• Cell A2 is the active cell
• Formula should check the value in cell B2 -- the active cell's row
• Formula would work for the active cell (A2): =B2>75
• Formula will need the correct type of reference to cell B2

Relative or Absolute Reference

In Excel, a cell reference can be an absolute, relative reference, or mixed reference. Which type of reference should be used in this conditional formatting formula?

Note: In a cell reference, a dollar sign ($) tells Excel to lock that part of the reference

• Absolute: $B$2 -- both the column ($B) and the row ($2) references are locked with dollar signs
  • All cells would check the value in worksheet cell B2
• Relative: B2 -- neither the column or the row are locked with a dollar sign
  • All cells would check value in their own row
  • All cells would check the value in the column to their immediate right, because column B is to the right of the active cell, A2
• Mixed: B$2 - column is not locked, row is locked
  • All cells would check the value in cell in row 2
  • All cells would check the value in the column to their immediate right
• Mixed: $B2 - column is locked, row is not locked
  • All cells would check value in their own row
  • All cells would check the value in worksheet cell B2

Enter Formula with Mixed Reference

For this formula, we need to use the last option, a mixed reference, with only the column locked-- $B2.

With that reference, the conditional formatting will work correctly, in every cell that is selected, from A2:D8

• In the rule box, enter the formula shown below: 
  • =$B2>75
  • column reference is locked ($B) , row reference is not locked (2)
  • all cells will check the value in their own row, in column B

Add Formatting

The purpose of conditional formatting is to highlight cells that meet the criteria rules.

In this example, the cells should turn blue, if the formula result is TRUE. That will highlight the rows, so they're easy to spot in a long list.

Follow these steps, to set the formatting:

• In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, click the Format button.
• In the Format Cells dialog box, select the formatting options that you want.
  • In this example a light blue fill color was selected
  • You could also select format options from the Font, Border, and Number formatting tabs
• Click the OK button, to close the Format Cells window

Check the Rule Settings

Back in the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager, the new rule settings are shown

• Check the formula, and the formatting preview
• If everything looks correct, click the OK button, to apply the rule change.

On the worksheet, the new conditional formatting rule is applied.

• Rows with a number greater than 75 in the Units column, are highlighted with blue fill colour.
• None of the other rows have the blue fill colour

Absolute Reference vs Relative Reference

In the formula, it's important to use an absolute reference to column B, by putting a dollar sign ($) in front of the column letter -- $B

• The absolute reference ensures every column refers to the value in column B.
• Rows 3 and 6 have blue fill, because they have units greater than 75
• 

Incorrect Highlighting

If we use a relative reference -- B -- without the $ sign, the column reference would adjust automatically, in each column of the selected range.

• Instead of referring to column B, each column would refer to the column to its right.
• That would give incorrect highlighting with the conditional formatting, as shown below
  • Cell C2 has blue fill, because the cell to its right is greater than 75
  • Cells B4 and B5 have blue fill, because cells C4 and C5 are greater than 75

Change Conditional Formatting Rule

After you create a conditional formatting rule, you might want to change it later. For example, in the previous example, a formula-based rule was created, to highlight rows with a value of 75 or more units sold.

Instead of setting that minimum number (75) in the conditional formatting rule's formula, we'll put the number in a worksheet cell. That will make the number easy to see, and it can be changed quickly and easily

First, set up the worksheet cell:

• On the Excel worksheet, in cell F1, type the number 70
• In cell F2, type a label, "Units", so it's clear what the cell contains
• Format the cell, with fill colour and a border, to show that a value should be entered there

Existing Conditional Formatting Rule

If you want to change an existing conditional formatting rule, follow the steps below:

• Select the cells where the original conditional formatting rule was applied -- A2:D8 in this example
• On the Excel Ribbon, click the Home tab
• In the Styles group, click the Conditional Formatting command
• Next, at the bottom of the list of options, click on Manage Rules

Conditional Formatting Rules Manager

The Conditional Formatting Rules Manager opens, showing a list of rules for the selected cells (Current Selection).

• Note: To see other rules, you can select from the "Show Formatting Rules For" drop down list, at the top of the Rules Manager dialog box.

To change one of the conditional formatting rules:

• Select a rule in the list, and then click the Edit Rule button
• In the Select a Rule Type section, the current rule type is highlighted
  • In the screen shot below, the rule type is "Use a formula..."
• In the Edit the Rule Description section, the current settings are shown
  • In the screen shot below, the rule uses a formula: =$B2>75

Change the Rule Settings

In the bottom section, Edit the Rule Description, you can make changes to the rule and its formatting.

In the formula, we'll refer to cell F1 on the worksheet, where a minimum number will be entered.

In this example, the formula will change:

• from the old rule, with a number: =$B2>75
• to the new formula with a cell reference: =$B2>$F$1

First, follow these steps to change the formula:

• In the formula box, delete the number, 75
• Move the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager, if necessary, to see cell F1, where the number is stored
• Click on cell F1, to add that cell reference to the formula

Next, you can also change the formatting for the rule, if you'd like to. In this example, the rule will have green fill colour, instead of blue.

• Click the Format button
• In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Fill tab
• Click on the light green colour
• Click OK, to close the Format Cells dialog box

In the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager, the new rule settings are shown

• Click the OK button, to apply the rule change.

On the worksheet, the new conditional formatting rule is applied.

• Rows where the number of units is greater than the value in cell F1 have green fill
• Change the number in cell F1, and the highlighting will adjust automatically, based on the new minimum value for Units sold.

Excel Table Formulas

Usually, if you refer to a cell in a named Excel table, a structured table reference. is automatically created.

For example, in the screen shot below, a worksheet formula in cell H2 refers to cell B2.

Because cell B2 is in a named Excel table, the reference shows the table name, and the column name

• =Table2[@Units]

Excel automatically created that type of reference, when I clicked on cell B2, while starting the formula

Conditional Formatting Formula Error

However, if you try to use a structured table reference when setting up a Conditional Formatting rule, Excel will show an error message.

• There's a problem with this formula.

So, don't try to use structured table references when setting up your conditional formatting rules.

Just use normal cell references, and everything should go smoothly!

Video Transcript

This is the full transcript for the Colour a Row in Excel Based on One Cell's Value video, at the top of this page.

With Excel's conditional formatting, you can easily highlight a cell if it's over or under a certain value, or if it meets a value that you've set.

But in some cases, instead of just a single cell, you might like to highlight a whole row in a table, if one of the cells in that row is over a certain number or under.

In this case, we would like to highlight each row in this list if the number of units sold is greater than 75.

So to do that, I'm going to select all of the rows, all of the columns in each row. So I've selected from A2 down to D10.

On the Ribbon, on the Home tab, I'll click Conditional Formatting, and none of these preset rules will do exactly what I want. So I'm going down to New Rule, and in here I'll select a formula.

So I'm going to use a formula to determine how to color each row.

When I click that, there's a spot where I can put the formula.

I want to, in each row, look at the value that's in column B. So I'll type =

And we want, from every column, we want to look at column B. So we have to lock that cell. We don't want it to be relative, we want it to be absolute.

So type a $ to lock that in. And then B.

And we want, in this case, the active cell we can see is white, where the other cells are highlighted with blue.

We can see that, in the name box, A2 is showing up. So that's the active cell, so the active row is 2. So I'm going to type 2 here.

We're going to check what's in B2 and see if it's greater than 75. So that's our test.

And if it is greater than 75, we want to format it. So I'll click Format and I'll choose a fill color, maybe a blue color and click OK, and click OK again.

And now, any row where the number of units is greater than 75, all four cells in that row are colored blue.

Get the Practice File

Download the zipped Conditional Format Row Based on Cell Value sample file for this Excel tutorial. The xipped file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

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