Excel formula to refrence 'CELL TO THE LEFT'

Question

Hi.

I'm trying to do conditional formatting so that the cell color will change if the value is different from the value in the cell left of it (each column is a month, in each row are the expenses on certain object. I want to monitor easily changes in prices over months.)

I can do it per cell and format-drag it, but I would like a general formula to apply to the whole worksheet.

Thanks!

Answer 1

When creating your conditional formatting, set the range to which it applies to what you want (the whole sheet), then enter a relative formula (remove the $ signs) as if you were only formatting the upper-left corner.

Excel will properly apply the formatting to the rest of the cells accordingly.

In this example, starting in B1, the left cell would be A1. Just use that--no advanced formula required.

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If you're looking for something more advanced, you can play around with column(), row(), and indirect(...).

Answer 2

You could use a VBA script that changes the conditional formatting of a selection (you might have to adjust the condition & formatting accordingly):

For Each i In Selection
i.FormatConditions.Delete
i.FormatConditions.Add Type:=xlCellValue, Operator:=xlLess, Formula1:="=" & i.Offset(0, -1).Address
With i.FormatConditions(1).Font
    .Bold = True
End With
Next i

Answer 3

=OFFSET(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(), COLUMN())),0,-1)

Answer 4

If you change your cell reference to use R1C1 notation (Tools|Options, General tab), then you can use a simple notation and paste it into any cell.

Now your formula is simply:

=RC[-1]