This is a guest post by Vijay, our in-house VBA Expert.
There are times when we are entering dates into several columns and would like to select a date from a popup calendar instead of manually typing.
Today, lets understand how we can set up a pop-up calendar in Excel so that your users can easily input dates by right clicking on a cell and inserting a date.
Keep in mind:
1. This code is only supported on the 32-Bit versions of Excel.
2. You need to have admin rights to be able to install the ActiveX Control
First, take a look at pop-up calendar
Here is a short demo of how our pop-up calendar behaves.

What we need to do this
1. Design user form that contains our calendar.
2. Create a Data Table
3. Put some VBA code to get this done
Design user form that contains our calendar.
First let’s design the user form, so start up Excel and bring up the Visual Basic editor and add an user form in the project.
We would need the Microsoft Date and Time Picker control for this project, so please ensure that you have the required file available on your system. If it is not available you may download the MSCOMCT2.OCX from this link.
http://activex.microsoft.com/controls/vb6/mscomct2.cab
Installing this file is pretty simple, you need to extract the contents form the CAB file and then copy this into your System32 folder and then register using the REGSVR32 utility.
If you are using Windows 7 or above you would need to copy this file into the SysWOW64 folder and then register.
For Windows 7 and above, please make sure you are running the Command Prompt (Admin) to be able to successfully register the ActiveX control.
Windows 7: Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt (right click and choose Run as Administrator
Windows 8: Windows Key + X, then choose Command Prompt (Admin)

Okay, let’s get back to designing the user form.
Insert a new Userfrom on the VBA project and then click on Addition Controls on the Tools menu.

Once the Additional controls dialog box is on the screen, locate the above highlighted entry and then select the same by clicking the box on the left. Now click Ok to close this dialog box.
Now place one Monthview control on the userform and one Command button.
Below are the properties that we need to change for the Commandbutton
• Caption = “Close”
• Cancel = True
• Name = cmdClose
Place this command button anywhere you like on the userfrom, we will place the Monthview on top of this to avoid show this to the user.
Since we have specified the Cancel = True for the commandbutton, the click event can be triggered by pressing the Escape key to handle the code that we will write for the Close button.
Now place the Monthview control as show in the picture below

We are done designing the Userform, now we need to write the code to handle the events.
Below is the code
Close Button
Private Sub cmdClose_Click()
Unload Me
End Sub
Userfrom
Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
'matching the date in the calendar with the date of the active cell
'if there is a date,
If IsDate(ActiveCell.Value) Then
Me.MonthView1.Value = ActiveCell.Value
Else
Me.MonthView1.Value = Now
End If
End Sub
Private Sub MonthView1_DateClick(ByVal DateClicked As Date)
On Error Resume Next
Dim cell As Object
For Each cell In Selection.Cells
cell.Value = DateClicked
Next cell
Unload Me
End Sub
What the above code does?
1. The close button code will simply unload the userform and take it off the screen.
2. The userform initialize event code will check if the current cell on which we are right clicking the mouse contains any date, if there is a date then it will set the date on the calendar as the one on the cell, otherwise it will show today’s date.
3. The dateclick event of the Monthview control occurs when we click on any date, this code is responsible for populating the cell with the date we have selected. If there are multiple cells selected the code will populate all of them with the date selected.
Adding the context menu option
Now comes the interesting part of adding the context menu option, one thing I would like to specify here as the name suggests “Context menu” these options change depending on what and where we are right clicking the mouse. You will see a different context menu when you right click on a cell, table, shape etc. as shown in the example below

Since every object has a different type of context menu associated we need to make site we are adding our option to the right place.
I would recommend reading this article to know more about the types of commandbars available and how to use them. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/aa141001(v=office.10).aspx
Also this link provides a list of available names http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/excel-questions/525939-visual-basic-applications-list-available-commandbars-excel-2010-a.html
We wanted to add the right click context option to a data table which is called as “List Range Popup”.
Create a Data Table
Type the heading in Cells
B2 = ID
C2 = Start Date
D2 = End Date
E2 = Name
Now click on cell B2, and press CTRL + T shortcut from the keyboard. Make sure to select the option My Table has headers and then click Ok.
We would need the add the below code to the Open event of our workbook so that this option is available to us every time we need to work here.
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
On Error Resume Next
Dim NewControl As CommandBarControl
Application.OnKey "+^{C}", "Module1.OpenCalendar"
Application.CommandBars("List Range Popup").Controls("Insert Date").Delete
Set NewControl = Application.CommandBars("List Range Popup").Controls.Add(Before:=1)
With NewControl
.Caption = "Insert Date"
.OnAction = "Module1.OpenCalendar"
.BeginGroup = True
End With
End Sub
We have also assigned a shortcut key of CTRL + SHIFT + C to this, for those who love to work more using the keyboard.
The above code will add the “Insert Date” context menu option to our data table(s) in the active workbook whenever we open this file.
Next is cleanup
We need to make sure that the context menu we have added is also removed when the file is close, the below code will do that for us.
Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
On Error Resume Next
Application.OnKey "+^{C}"
Application.CommandBars("List Range Popup").Controls("Insert Date").Delete
End Sub
Note: I have seen the project code left over in the VBA project explorer even after we have close this file, and did some research on the same. The common reason for this is having some COM addins installed. Please share if you also run into this issue and if you were able to find any other reasons or ways to eliminate this issue.
Download Demo File
Click here to download the demo file & use it to understand this technique.
What about you? Do you use them often? Please share your experiences, techniques & ideas using comments.
If you are new to VBA, Excel macros, go thru these links to learn more.
Join our VBA Classes
If you want to learn how to develop applications like these and more, please consider joining our VBA Classes. It is a step-by-step program designed to teach you all concepts of VBA so that you can automate & simplify your work.
Click here to learn more about VBA Classes & join us.
About Vijay
Vijay (many of you know him from VBA Classes), joined chandoo.org full-time this February. He will be writing more often on using VBA, data analysis on our blog. Also, Vijay will be helping us with consulting & training programs. You can email Vijay at sharma.vijay1 @ gmail.com. If you like this post, say thanks to Vijay.












15 Responses to “Compare 2 Lists Visually and Highlight Matches”
Hi,
I solved this in a little different way.
We have 2 lists, one starts at A1 and other at B1, both are vertical arrays.
First thing is define 2 named ranges, list1 and list2:
list1 refers to "=OFFSET(Sheet1!$A$1;0;0;SUMPRODUCT(--(Sheet1!$A$1:$A$1000""));1)"
list2 refers to "=OFFSET(Sheet1!$A$1;0;0;SUMPRODUCT(--(Sheet1!$B$1:$B$1000""));1)"
this way lists will be dynamically sized when you had or remove elements (you can't have blanks and you can't have more than 1000 elements).
Then I use conditional formatting in column A when this formula is true:
"=NOT(ISERROR(MATCH(A1;list2;0)))"
and "=NOT(ISERROR(MATCH(B1;list1;0)))" to list2.
This way we eliminate the need for auxiliary columns or lists.
Hope you like my way! 😀
Nunes
Simple conditional formatting formula.
Assuming lists vertical lists starting in A1 & B1
To highlight just one column (assume B for example)
Conditional formatting>New Rule>by formula
=MATCH(B1,$A$1:$A$99,0)
Set the cell fill to what ever color you prefer & press OK
To highlight both columns repeat with this formula for cell in column A
=MATCH(A1,$B$1:$B$99,0)
This approach doesn't require named fields or addtl columns
glw
Say I had 1 list in A2:A20 and another in B2:B20.
To format all the items in column A that are repeated in column B I would use the following Conditional Formatting rule.
=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A2,$B$2:$B$20,1,false)),true,false)
All the duplicates are highlighted. It us a very simple example of comparison.
I may be missing something here, but I usually highlight both my lists by holding ctrl eg A1:A20 E10:E40 then choose conditional formatting from the ribbon and then highlight duplicates, and this does it?
Lee, I was perplexed as well. I do the same thing you do with the conditional formating. A drag and click to highlight range and choose highlight duplicates does the trick for me.
I believe these methods are to check if an item from one list also appears in the other list. So if an item mentioned many times in one list if also mentioned in the other list or not.
The Conditional Formatting highlight duplicates feature will do this, but it will also highlight an item if it appears multiple times in the one column or list.
Hi, I would just like to know (if you are willing to share) which image editing program you use to make your image like above, like they are torn apart from bottom? I've been looking for long.
@i48998
Chandoo is on Holidays, but Chandoo uses Paint.Net
Paint.net is a free download available at http://www.paint.net/
.
I use CorelDraw/PhotoPaint
.
We both use the Snipping Tool (a freebe with Win Vista/10)
.
We both use Camtasia for doing screen captures to make animated GIFs where you see animation.
Here is how I would accomplish
(1) Define Names: List_1, List_2
(2) =ISNA(MATCH(D4,List_2,0))-1 (Conditional Format formula List_1)
(3) =ISNA(MATCH(D4,List_1,0))-1 (Conditional Format formula List_2)
ISNA will return 1 if NO Match and O if Match by adding a -1 will make: NO Match 0 and Match a -1 which is True
Hi all
this my first Post here
i think we can take Unique List for tow list to know what is not Duplicate By this Array formula
=IFERROR(INDEX($D$6:$D$33,SMALL(IF(ISERROR(MATCH($D$6:$D$33,$B$6:$B$33,0)),ROW($D$6:$D$33)-ROW($D$6)+1),ROWS($J$5:J5))),"")
and this one for Duplicate Value
=IFERROR(INDEX($D$6:$D$33,SMALL(IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH($D$6:$D$33,$B$6:$B$33,0)),ROW($D$6:$D$33)-ROW($D$6)+1),ROWS($J$5:J5))),"")
Don't forget to Enter This Formula by Pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter
without wanting to ruthlessly self promote here, I do have an addin that does neatly compare two ranges, not just in columns, so you might want to check that out.
Having said that this is a pretty neat solution if you dont want to be going down the VBA or purchase route. I like it
however, could you not do something with the remove duplicates feature in Excel 2010 and then compare the resulting data set?
Hi, Chandoo! I've found yesterday your Excel website... What can I say? It's just awesome, Excellent. Being a developer for 30 years, more than 15 with Office products, and wow!, how many things I discovered in a couple of hours, and what pretty resolved.
I decided to take the long path of the newbies and read all your examples and write down by myself all of them, and when I arrived to this (the comparison of two lists) I think I've found a problem:
a) in "Step 4: Apply conditional formatting to Second List - Use the same logic, but this time the rule becomes =COUNTIF(count1s,$H6)" it should say "Step 4: Apply conditional formatting to Second List - Use the same logic, but this time the rule becomes =COUNTIF(count1s,$H6)>0", but this is a typing error that I believe all of us here might have discovered and corrected
b) the very problem: I wrote down two different lists, in different ranges, and with different number of elements, I specified the equivalent conditional formats, et non voilá!, I didn't get what expected. So I downloaded your example book, I checked range names, formulaes, conditional formats and all OK. So I copied -just values- from my book to yours, and I still couldn't achieve the goal.
I'm using Excel 2010 in spanish, I'm from Buenos Aires (Argentina), and my book is at your disposition whenever you considerate it appropiate.
Thanks in advance for your time, and again my congratulations for your work here.
Best regards.
SirJB7
Comparison of 2 lists visually with highlights
Author: SirJB7 / Date: 11-Dic-2011
Pros: no duplicated tables, no matrix formulaes, no named ranges, no VBA code, just conditional formatting
Cons: not found yet, comments and observations welcome
Features:
a) standard problem: highlights in orange/yellow elements existing in the other list
b) optimized problem: idem a) plus highlights in red/violet first occurrence of elements existing in the other list
Sheet contents:
a) conditional format, 1 rule per list (2 methods used)
A1:A20, first list
B1:B20, second list
a1) range A1:A20, condition =NO(ESERROR(BUSCARV(A1;B$1:B$20;1;FALSO))), format Orange ---> in english: =NOT(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(A1,B$1:B$20,1,FALSE)))
a2) range B1:B20, condition =CONTAR.SI(A$1:A$20;B1)>0, format Yellow ---> in english: =COUNTIF(A$1:A$20,B1)>0
b) conditional format, 2 rules per list (2 methods used)
D1:D20, first list
E1:E20, second list
b1) range E1:E20, condition 1 =Y(NO(ESERROR(BUSCARV(D1;E$1:E$20;1;FALSO)));COINCIDIR(D1;D$1:D$20;0)=FILA(D1)), format Red ---> in english: =AND(NOT(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(D1,E$1:E$20,1,FALSE))),MATCH(D1,D$1:D$20,0)=ROW(D1))
same range, condition 2 and format 2, same as a1)
b2) range E1:E20, condition =Y(CONTAR.SI(D$1:D$20;E1)>0;COINCIDIR(E1;E$1:E$20;0)=FILA(E1)), format Violet ---> in english: =AND(COUNTIF(D$1:D$20,E1)>0,MATCH(E1,E$1:E$20,0)=ROW(E1))
same range, condition 2 and format 2, same as a2)
Personally I like the a2) and b2) solutions, I think the formulaes are prettier.
I still don't know the rules of this website and forum, but it any precept is infringed I'm willing to share the workbook with the solution. If it breaks a rule, I apologize and promise that won't happen again.
Best regards for all!
Dear All i have a complicated situation...
1. I have two sheets of data Sheet1 and Sheet2 (from various sources) - Both of these contain data matching and Not matching as well..
2. Now for me i need to build an excel where in i need to get sheet 3 with values that are present in a column of Sheet 1.
What ever Sheet 1 doesn't have i dont want those rows from sheet 2 to be populated into Sheet3.
Can any one help me out.
Hi Team
The above example is to compare partial name from 2 different columns.
If I want to cross check it in a single column. I have both correct and partial correct/match entries in a column. Is there any way I can find both the entries in the column.
Regards