Highlight empty cell based on multiple date comparison - excel

I would like to highlight the cells based on multiple dates comparison.
There are 4 dates (D1, D2, D3, D4) on the left for different projects. which need to be compared with each month first date(M1, M2, M3... M12).
so, I need to check if the cells below M1 (empty cells) falls between D1, D2 then fill red, if falls between D2,D3 fill yellow and if falls between D3,D4 then fill green. This has to be done for each cell which is below M2, M3.. M12. Each project has different time line, so I need to check for each project based on D1,D2,D3,D4 and M1,M2...mx.
I tried using the conditional formatting and used "Use a formulate to determine which cells to format" for one cell below M1 for first project. then stretched by mouse over from left to right. It did not reflect any colour in any cell.
please suggest how can i do it.
Thanks
Sbx.

Related

Creating a Vertical Pattern By Subtracting A Given (Variable) Cell By Another Constant (Fixed) Cell

So basically I am trying to create a pattern in excel by subtracting each of the elements in Column D from just Cell A2. I need the pattern to always subtract the value of the variable column D cell just from cell A2. So I started off setting D2 (after the heading) to (D2-A2). Then I set D3 to (D3-A2). Then I set D4 to (D4-A2). I then highlight these three cells, hoping the pattern was apparent. I click and drag the bottom right corner of the last cell downward, but excel proceeds to give me (D5-A3) for D5, (D6-A4) for D6, (D7-A5) for D7, etc....
Does anyone know how to fix this issue? I want to be able to create this pattern for the column, but it's not able to pick up on it when I drag the lower-right corner of the highlighted cells downwards.
In the first cell, use =(D2-A$2). The "$" makes it so that Excel does not change this component when copy-pasted.

Multi-conditional conditional formatting question

I am currently applying conditional formatting to a table.
I have a rule that states if a certain cell in column B contains a course that begins "B6", then excel needs to color the adjacent cell in column C, blue.
The thing is, the column that would contain B6 changes depending every semester since the courses also change. So for example, a course that starts with "B6" in cell B5 may very well change to a course that starts with "B80" in the future.
That said, to combat potential changes I am going one by and adding conditional formatting formulas for each row/cell.
Here is an example:
Conditional Format Formula - Here you can see that if cell B4 contains "B6" it should format accordingly -- at this time it does not have "B6" so it's blank. On the other hand, B5 contains "B6" so it should format accordingly -- which it does in this case.
Formatting Outcome on the Sheet - this is what it looks like on the sheet.
My Question
So as you can see I am going one by one and applying the conditional formatting to each cell one by one. I have to apply the color blue if each cell contains "B6", and the color orange if each cell contains "B80" and so forth. Is there anyway I can make a formula so that I only have to make one rule per color for each column instead of conditionally formatting each cell?
EDIT:
Update with relative referencing - I followed your link and it didn't seem to work.

LibreOffice highlight cells if they are the same as a specific range

Master and Step Chart
Hello, I'm using A4-E4 as a "Master" code, and incrementally using A5-A8 to replace A4, B5-B8 to replace B4, etc etc first replacing one number of the "master", then two different numbers, etc until I have basically every combination. At some point the same number as the "master" is going to be generated. I have the numbers separated into groups of 16 on individually sheets for a total of 64 sheets. Obviously at some point the same number "43254" is going to generate on one of the sheets. Is there a way to search/highlight that number automatically upon generation? I've found that I can do conditional formatting to search for a specific cell, but not a range of cells. Like compare "A4-E4" to every set of five adjacent numbers in all the sheets, then highlight it. I have no idea if this is possible, but I'd appreciate it.
Select cells A4 through E4 and go to Format -> Conditional Formatting -> Manage. Apply style Good if Formula is:
CONCATENATE($A4;$B4;$C4;$D4;$E4)="43254"
So 43254 matches.
And 43253 does not match.
This is more complex than first appears. The following explanation may be difficult to understand if you do not have much experience with conditional formatting.
The formula gets evaluated 5 times, once for each of the cells.
Normally, rather than always indicating cell A4, Calc would interpret A4 as the currently evaluated cell (because we selected cells starting from A4). And B4 would indicate the cell to the right of the current cell that is evaulated. So for example, if such a conditional formatting formula were filled to cell D7, then A4 would actually indicate cell D7, and B4 would indicate cell E7.
However, our formula uses $A4 instead. The $ tells Calc that we always want column A even if the formatting is for column B or C et cetera.
One outcome of this is that the formula can be filled down or up but not left or right. If it is filled down one row for example, $A4 refers to column A but the current row, which would be cell A5.

Autofill conditional formatting cell references

Excel conditional formatting fill down is working but not recording the correct formula once filled down.
eg. Cells in Column B (eg B6) have a value (active, exit, suspend). The adjacent Column C cell needs to be colored green if the adjacent value in column B shows the entry active. This works fine when using in C6 Use a formula to determine which cells to format, and Format values where this formula is true shows =B6="active" and cell C6 comes up filled with the green color.
Upon fill down from cell C6 the formatting is all displayed correctly for each additional instance of the word active in a column B cell. However when the conditional formatting rule is viewed for a cell such as C7, C8 onwards instead of showing =B7"active" or =B8="active" etc they still all say =B6="active".
Does anyone know why they do not refer to their relative adjacent cell (B7, B8, B9 etc) instead of the original B6? The formula originally was =$B$6="active" and has been edited to remove the absolute reference and replaced with =B6="active" to allow a relative fill down.
Does anyone know why they do not refer to their relative adjacent cell ( B7, B8, B9 etc ) instead of the original B6 ?
Presumably someone in Microsoft does and that is not the answer you seek.
However you acknowledge the formatting is working so it hardly seems to matter.
I can suggest that it is efficient. Conditional Formatting with a formula has three key parts:
Formula
Formatting
Range
Formula
May be complex and lengthy.
Formatting
It is what it has to be. Usually a very simple fill colour but sometimes bold, font, font colour etc.
Range
The 'neglected' one of the three but equally important though simple - just co-ordinates defining one or more rectangles (or a singe cell reference otherwise the top left and bottom right references). An efficient way to define an area that works whether one cell or one million, still just two corners at most.
You have probably noticed that whatever you enter there that is valid, anchors ($ signs) will be added where not already provided. You may also have noticed that Applies to will accept a named range - but Excel then automatically converts this to the cell reference/s.
It might help to consider what you would do if you were in charge of having doors painted yellow at house numbers 1 to 10 on a housing estate (yellow highlighting probably the most common format chosen for Conditional Formatting and a cell being roughly the shape of the surface of one side of a door). Say during the process you were required to extend that to house numbers 11 to 15 also. Would you then produce five additional copies of the painting specification (the formula), it might be several pages long, or would you merely change your instructions to the team doing the work from "do this for houses 1 to 10" to "do this for houses 1 to 15"?
As you copy down the Applies to range adjusts accordingly, the system works. But for each rule there is only one range and that is the case in reverse, for each range thee is only one rule, So no need to express that rule cell by cell, hence perhaps a million times over.

Format a cell that is referenced by another cell

I need to format a cell that is specified by another cell. Basically after many calculations, the cell AL1 contains a cell reference, in this case it is AD48. I want to format cell AD48 and fill it red. This cell reference can, and will change so tomorow it may be AD54. I would then want only cell AD54 to be filled red and not AD48 anymore.
So basically whatever cell is specified in AL1, I want to format that cell (in this case fill it red)
ALOT of googling and no answer. Any help much appreciated!
Select sheet (click triangle immediately to the left of ColumnA and immediatley above Row1), Home > Styles - Conditional Formatting, New Rule, Format only cells that contain, Cell Value equal to =$AL$1, Format, Fill, Red, OK, OK.
Edit following clarification of requirement:
Change to Use a formula to determine which cells to format and apply
=SUBSTITUTE(CELL("address",A1),"$","")=$AL$1
Edit to add image of part of file uploaded by OP and some CF clarification.
Edit OP has an answer that works but posted this as a link in a comment. There is a solution that does not require formulae in AH1:AJ4 now that AA3 contains =TODAY():
=OR(AND($C5=TEXT($AA$3,"mmmm"),C8=DAY($AA$3)),AND($C4=TEXT($AA$3,"mmmm"),C7=DAY($AA$3)))
in Format values where this formula is true: and Applies to =$C$7:$AG$125. (Now formats both day of week and date of month).
Edit. Attempt at clarification (that should have been provided before!)
Selecting C7 as the start point, the formula for conditional formatting checks whether A or B is true:
A] Both the month name (in C5) matches the current month (long form) of =TODAY() in AA3) and the cell immediately below (ie C8) matches the day in AA3,
Or
B] Both the month name (in C4 – that is merged with C5) matches the month and the current cell (C8) matches the day in AA3.
Either case triggers the conditional formatting – hence this is applied in pairs of vertically adjacent cells.
Since the spreadsheet is well laid out (each month 11 rows and Day1 always in ColumnC) this same formula can be applied throughout with the nature of conditional formatting taking care of adjusting the relative references to cells in ColumnC up to the specified limit of Row 125 and in Row7 (or 8) for columns up to the specified limit of AG.

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