It is no exaggeration that knowing excel formulas can give you a career boost. From someone starting at the long list of numbers, you can become a data god who can lookup, manipulate and analyze any spreadsheet by learning few excel formulas.
So when our little excel blog hit the 5000 RSS Subscriber milestone, I celebrated the occasion by asking you to share an excel formula through twitter or comments with rest of us. And boy, what an excellent list of formula tips you have shared with us all.
Here is the complete list of entries for the twitter formula contest.
Follow the links next to contributor’s name to see the original twitter post or comment
To return the full Path+Filename of your (saved) workbook
by Dmurphy on PHD comments
To return the full Path+Filename of your (saved) workbook (and dropping the [] characters) to get, for example, C:\Data\ExcelFiles\MyWorkbook.xls: =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(CELL(”filename”,$A$1), FIND(”]”,CELL(”filename”,$A$1))),”[“,””),”]“,””)
Create a Dynamic Range that Grows and Shrinks with Data
by ps62 on twitter [@ps62]
IF($A6=””,””, SUM(OFFSET(Data,$A6-1,StartDateIndex-1,1,NumCols))) – makes stuff dynamic
Find the last cell in a row
by govi on twitter [@govi]
Return last filled cell in a row: =LOOKUP(9,999E+307;A1:IV1)
Cleaning your data (Example, changing the values in a column)
by artjohnson on twitter [@artjohnson]
Excel. Cust name header in C9 and text datalist below. Formula in B9 moves name from C9 to B9. Copy down. =if(isblank(C8),c9,b8)
Extract the month from a date
by Alan on PHD comments
Probably a easier way of doing this , extracting the month from a date as text. A1 is date =TEXT(DATE(0,MONTH(a1),1),”mmmm”)
Clean your text before you lookup
by rushikul on twitter [@rushikul]
=VLOOKUP(CLEAN(TRIM(E20)),F5:G18,2,0). To make sure you are using clear text, as text is most used in vookup_value
Find if two ranges are statistically different
by nandoaires on twitter [@nandoaires]
=IF((1-(1-NORMSDIST(ABS(A1-A2)/SQRT((2*AVERAGE(A1:A2)*(1-AVERAGE(A1:A2)))/(A3))))*2)>0,95;”Different”;”Equals”)
Lookup 3 criteria and return the match
by Alan_xls on twitter [@Alan_xls]
=Index(return,Match(1,(1stRange=criteria1)*(2ndRange=criteria2)*(3rdRange=criteria3),0)) Return result where 3 values match,Array Form
Offset with Match, get data from somewhere else
by Arnab Bose on PHD comments
This formula looks up data from another sheet considering three parameters keeping into account the column A and column B with sub-components (both on another sheet) and matching them up with the heading on both sheets. =OFFSET(’Data Sheet’!$C$1,MATCH(D$2,’Data Sheet’!$A$2:$A$140,0)+MATCH($B5,’Data Sheet’!$B$2:$B$20,0)-1,MATCH(D$3,’Data Sheet’!$C$1:$J$1,0)-1)
Using SUM with multiple conditions
by ps62 on twitter [@ps62]
{=SUM(IF(shoes=”nike”,Units,0))} – array formula – two conditions
VLOOKUP but get values from the left
by bsamson on twitter [@bsamson]
VLookup to return values to the left of the lookup range: =INDEX(SearchRange,MATCH(LookupValue,LookupRange,FALSE))
Getting data from a dynamic range
by Arnab Bose on PHD comments
This formula extracts data from a dynamic data range and returns a zero value if there is an #N/A error. =IF(ISNA(HLOOKUP($A14,Data!$AB$2:$AW$9,MATCH(”P”,Data!$AB$2:$AB$2,0),0)), 0,HLOOKUP($A14,Data!$AB$2:$AW$9,MATCH(”P”,Data!$AB$2:$AB$2,0),0))
Find the difference between maximums of two ranges
by PreetAulakh on twitter [@PreetAulakh]
{=MAX(K5:M5-K4:M4)}, one step formula to determine the max of difference of two ranges! No curly brackets in excel, Cltr+Shift+Enter
Find the top 3 values of a range
by JassiAulakh on twitter [@JassiAulakh]
Large(A1:A100,{1,2,3}). Gives you 3 highest values of a range. Select three cells and enter this formulas. Then Cltr+Shift+Enter
SUMPRODUCT with multiple conditions
by Martin on PHD comments
Here’s my little contribution (previously posted 😉 Named Ranges (should be dynamic, but….) Ship $A$2:$A$8 Captain $B$2:$B$8 flights $C$2:$C$8 in F:F Summary_ship $F$2:$I$2 this 3:3 Summary_Captain $E$3:$E$6 data is in range A1:C8, and summary is in E1:I6. =SUMPRODUCT((Ship=in Summary_ship)*(Captain=this Summary_Captain)*(flights))
Get the name of the workbook
by Dmurphy on PHD comments
To return the name of the workbook only, e.g. MyWorkbook.xls: =MID(CELL(”filename”,$A$1),FIND(”[“,CELL(“filename”,$A$1))+1,FIND(“]“,CELL(”filename”,$A$1))-FIND(”[”,CELL(”filename”,$A$1))-1)
Excel Formula Fun – Should we fight… ?
by chrismelck on twitter [@chrismelck]
=IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(WOMD,Iraq,1,FALSE)),”Declare war”,”Declare war anyway”)
More ways to use IF and Then formula
by Olu D. on PHD comments
This formula determines the Active (=”T”) status or otherwise of Employees in an Excel spreadsheet: =IF(AC2=””,”X”,IF(AND(AC2=500000,AD2=””),”T”,IF(AND(AC2500000,AD2?”),”F”,”Pls Enter Leaving Reason!!”)))
Using INDIRECT along with VLOOKUP to make dynamic lookups
by squash86 on twitter [@squash86]
=VLOOKUP(B3, INDIRECT(B36), COLUMN()-1,FALSE) The INDIRECT returns the name of a named range that holds the data table.
Calculate the p-value of a t-statistic [Don’t ask me what it is 😛 ]
by David on PHD comments
=NORMDIST(-1*ABS((Z27-AE27)/AG27),0,1,TRUE). Calculate p-value for t-statistic based on means in Z27 and AE27 and the std err of mean in AG27.
What is on the right side of that string
by aniVy on twitter [@aniVy]
=RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND(“-“,A1,1)) – Extracts right side string after a hyphen.
Find frequency distribution of a range of values
by Cody on PHD comments
=FREQUENCY(DY5:DY118,EU4:EU14) for creating frequency distributions. I can’t believe I went so long before discovering that there’s an easy built-in array function that does this. Constructing the distribution by hand was always a pain.
In-cell bar graph
by JohnCorp on twitter [@JohnCorp]
=REPT(“|”,A1/MAX($A$1:$A$5)*30) creates a bar graph from the data in the range a1:a5, change the font to change the look of the graph
Get the name of the current worksheet
by Dmurphy on PHD comments
To return the name fo the current worksheet, e.g. “Sheet1?: =MID(CELL(”filename”,$A$1),FIND(”]”,CELL(”filename”,$A$1))+1, LEN(CELL(”filename”,$A$1))-FIND(”]”,CELL(”filename”,$A$1)))
Excel formula fun – Usetheforce()
by _mikii on twitter [@_mikii]
=usetheforce(choke,”Moff Jerjerrod”)
UDF to calculate to royalty, I am not getting any
by chrislbs on twitter [@chrislbs]
=TieredRoyalty($R$16:$T$19,I5) @r1c1 Uses a UDF to calculate royalty on I5 based on a TierTable in R16:T19, saving nested vlookups
Find the Next Friday the 13th
by S3bast1an on twitter [@S3bast1an]
ARRAYformula – Next Friday 13th is =MIN(IF(((WEEKDAY(TODAY()+ROW(1:1000);2)=5)*(DAY(TODAY()+ROW(1:1000))=13))=1;TODAY()+ROW(1:1000)))
Split first name and last name
by Mahmut on PHD comments
=LEFT(A1,FIND(” “,A1)-1) =RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND(” “,A1)) Split first names and last names.
IF with a VLOOKUP
by m4th1337 on twitter [@m4th1337]
=IF(VLOOKUP(C1,’Historical Data’!$A$2:$S$332,4,FALSE)>F1,”-“,IF(VLOOKUP(C1,’Historical Data’!$A$2:$S$332,4,FALSE)
And now for the winners
I wish I had more prizes to give. All the tips are truly marvelous. I have learned several cool uses of excel formulas. But alas, we have only 2 prizes in this contest.
Dashboard bundle from Bonavista Systems goes to Govi
The excel formulas 2007 book by John Walkenbach goes to DMurphy
Both the winners are randomly selected. I have already sent them an e-mail with the further instructions to claim the prizes.
Big thank you to Bonavista Systems, the contest sponsor
I would like to thank Andreas from Bonavista systems for sponsoring the dashboard bundle. Bonavista systems makes some really cool tools for excel dashboards, spark-lines and helps you make cleaner and better looking charts. Checkout their products and know more about them from their site.
Further Resources if you want to learn Excel Formulas
32 Responses to “More than 3 Conditional Formats in Excel”
Dude,
Long time... whts up , I see that urs is the only business which is posting a "Excel" lent growth in this recessionary market....
Still alive ... so you will be able to reach me if make an attempt... 🙂
V E R Y N I C E !!!!
Hi Chandoo.
When I use your macro in my file, I keep getting a Compile Error because the "cell" variable is not defined.
Any suggestions?
@Lincoln: Did you have "option explicit" on?
I am sorry, I didn't define the cell variable.
you can add this line to the code just below the line "dim i"
dim cellLet me know if you still get this error...
Ah. I've simply declared cell as a range.
All good now
Noob at work.
Thanks for the article. Very helpful. 🙂
very, very helpful. I didn't know what "define named ranges" meant. one of my colleagues figured it out. I suggest you add the instruction "go to menu - insert/name/define and then make sure the cells at the bottom of the box change to reflect new values if you redefine the range." thanks.
Quite Intresting. If anyone could help. I am trying to do something like this but i want to define values and colours of the value in a range of cells ( Similiar) but i want the other cells to change colour when the value is same as the range defined. ANy help. I want instantaneous( Like conditional formatting) not like running macro.
@Jahabar: Welcome to PHD and thanks for the comments.
If your source range and target range have same dimensions and source range has 4 different formats (conditional formatting limitation, unless you are using excel 2007) you can do this. If you have more than 4 formats then you may have to use VBA (and create an event like worksheet_change and monitor the range).
Let me know if you come across a simple non-vba solution for this. 🙂
very nice post...
May I suggest a little modification of the code?
Adding "Application.ScreenUpdating = False" at the beggining of the macro and "Application.ScreenUpdating = True" at the end speeds up significantly the whole procedure. As well as omitting "Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks:=False, Transpose:=False".
Not a big deal in this example, but when formatting a larger range of cells, the difference is marked. I've tried to format the number 1457 of cells and the formatting was done 11 seconds faster. :-O
[...] you can overcome the conditional formatting limitation using VBA macros (again, if you are new to excel, you may want to wait few weeks before plunging in to [...]
Hi Chandoo
Thanks for this macro. I have done few changes to this macro to suit my needs. I had removed the defined names data2use and conditions2use to ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Address
This way I can select the cells that require conditional formatting and then run the macro.
Kind Regards,
Vasanth
Chandoo, I am using 2007. I noticed the conditional formatting options are different - and they have some built in funtictions for stop light displays, and other dashboard type elements. My question is this, I need to display more colors in the stop light than the standard 3. The World Health Org (WHO) has a Pandemic Flu alert level between 0-6, so i wanted to drive a sharepoint dashboard using excel based on 7 distinct levels. Suggestions?
@ASM: very good idea. you can use font based symbols instead of excel traffic light icons to achieve this. the character "=" becomes a small circle when you change the font to "webdings". So you just need to insert a bunch of = signs and use conditional formatting to change the font color. If you need to combine numbers with symbols, then you can use 2 columns instead of one and format them accordingly. Let me know if you need some more help with this.
Also, if possible, share with us your dashboard when it is ready.
[...] Once we calculate values for all team members using the above formula, we can apply conditional formatting to make the heat map. In Excel 2007, this is one step. In earlier versions of excel, you need to specify 3 conditions to make the heatmap look hot enough or use a macro to get over the 3 conditional formats limitation. [...]
Chandoo,
Why do you use the "conditions2use" since you can change the VBA and replace "conditions2use" with "data2use" and you won't have to create a zone for conditional formating equal to the data zone.
The Data will be formated according the "formats2use". Just one thing, if you plan to have some "0" on your data zone, they will be formated like the first cell above your "formats2use" (the green cell with "Formats" inside in your exemple".
That's why you should leave a white empty cell above the first cell of the "formats2use" zone.
Regards,
Pitichat
Seeing as no one has posted what they actually might use something like this for here's my 2cents;
I used the same concepts to build a heatmap of a casino gaming floor, with each populated cell representing a gaming machine (Slot Machine), some simple metric bucketing to determine different shades for the cells, user selectable colours, ability to pick a 'machine' (click on a cell) and repaint the 'floor' showing only machines with similar charateristics, select a value range and repaint the 'floor' showing only the 'machines' within the value range. Users could switch between metrics and repaint the the floor.
It took a while to put together, but once in use was rolled out to four casinos and used for 4 years. It provided a portable (i.e. no custom software), easy to understand way to manage product from individual machine to groups / classes of product and made it very easy to see how products were performing in geographic relation to each other (something that tables & graphs can't easily do)
Needless to say it "wowed" many people who only saw Excel as a tool for managing numbers and table based reports
Being excel just about any user could maintain spreadsheet.
@ Justin B - Hey Justin, that counds AWESOME! Can I get a copy of the casino tracker, I work within a similar industry and would love to see how you've constructed it.
Also, from using this heatmap, I think I'm getting confused. To make the map change color, I thought you had to change the DATA2USE cells, but I see it only changes if you change the vales of thew cells within the CONDITIONS2USE cells. Am I thinking this wrong?????
Thanks all, this is REALLY making my life easier!!
Hi Dude,
Thanks for this very useful macro. That was very helpful.
Kepp up the good work.
Cheers.
Explanation like yours is so important to everyone that want to learn more and more in Excel. Thanks a lot. You are the man ! 🙂
[...] http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/10/14/more-than-3-conditional-formats-in-excel/ [...]
Chandoo,
If I wanted to replace the numbers 1-9 with text A-I, what would I need to do to the macro to make it work correctly?
Thanks!
@Lee
If the numbers are alone and not part of larger numbers >10 or with text you can simply use this formula
=CHAR(A1+64)Change A1 to your cell
Copy Down/Across as required
Then select the new cells and copy/paste as Values over themselves.
I'm trying to do a drop down list that will allow me to select a color and when I select that color it will change my cell to that color. i cannot use contion formating because I have 5 colors. Can you help me with this?
thanks
This tool was great. Can you please suggest a way to include conditions like if value in a cell lies in a range color some other cell red.
What do I need to change in the programing if I have a mix of numbers and letters. Example; 5003, 2B01, W005, 1020. I think the problem is the CInt code but I'm not sure.
EXCELlent - was able to use your macro with no problems. Found that modifying it to use the DATA2USE range achived the same result as using the condition2use range. If the two ranges were equal, your way allows the data range to have completely different values and still have the same color format at the end.
My data is a little different
I have an irregular shaped building with students in it.
I have a list of students assigned to the rooms with the courses they are on
and a color code for the courses
would there be a way of using indirect to translate the student names to color code the rooms to what courses they are on?
[...] hi Check below link More than 3 Conditional Formats in Microsoft Excel - How to? | Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel O... [...]
The ability to conditional format a range of cells based on criteria in a different, but matching for size, range of cells is exactly what I've been looking for. Unfortunately the macro falls over at the line conditions (i) = CInt (cell.value). I have specified the 3 rangenames, working in excel 2003 but cannot get it to work. Any ideas. I've checked rangenames several times (0-16 being used) but no luck. Thanks
Hello you also can use this code to force ur worksheet to run with more then on condition.
in this case the condition = case like in example if u want to format something between of the range 0 to 100 for a color
Set I = Intersect(Target, Range("B2:B8")) <-- thatch the rage u want to work with just set it up for range of cell u want to use to format
the second formula will show u Interior color nr index just time it and when u format the cell with a color it will show nr in the cell
enjoy
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)Set I = Intersect(Target, Range("B2:B8"))
If Not I Is Nothing Then
Select Case Target
Case 0 To 100: NewColor = 37 ' light blue
Case 101 To 200: NewColor = 46 ' orange
Case 201 To 300: NewColor = 12 ' dark yellow
Case 301 To 400: NewColor = 10 ' green
Case 401 To 600: NewColor = 3 ' red
Case 601 To 1000: NewColor = 20 ' lighter blue
End Select
Target.Interior.ColorIndex = NewColor
End If
End Sub
Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
Range("F1:F1") = Range("F1:F1").Interior.ColorIndex
End Sub
Hi Chandoo,
I tried to add the "More than 3 conditional formats for Excel" VBA macro
to my Excel 2008 for Mac and it didn't work. Would this VBA macro work
with Excel 2011 for Mac? Does it have to be a certain version: Student,
Home & Office, or Standard?
Thanks for your help.
Tom
[…] here is one vba macro that might be better if need lots of cases http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/10/14/more-than-3-conditional-formats-in-excel/ […]