How to work with conditional formatting in Google Sheets

In this post, we'll take a closer look at conditional formatting in Google Sheets and learn the quickest and most effective ways of setting it up. We'll consider several examples to see how to create conditional formatting with one or several conditions, and how to color cells by custom criteria. We'll pay particular attention to conditional formatting based on other cells.

What is Google Sheets conditional formatting?

Why do we need conditional formatting in a table? Isn't it easier to format the cells manually?

Highlighting particular data with the help of color is a great way to draw attention to the records. Many of us do this all the time. If the cell values meet our conditions, e.g. they are greater or less than some value, they are the greatest or the smallest, or perhaps they contain certain characters or words, then we find such cells and change their font or color. Wouldn't it be great if such changes to formatting occurred automatically and drew yet more attention to such cells? We would save a lot of time.

This is where conditional formatting comes in handy. Google Sheets can do this work for us, all we need is to explain what we want to get. Let's look at some examples together and see how simple and effective it is.

How to add a formatting rule with one condition

Suppose we have chocolate sales data in our table. Each row in the table contains an order we got from a particular customer. We used drop-down lists in column G to specify if it was completed.

A typical Google spreadsheet with sales data

What can be interesting for us to see here? First, we can highlight those orders that exceed $200 in total sales. We have these records in column F, so we'll use our mouse to select the range of values with the order amount: F2:F22.

Then find the Format menu item and click on Conditional formatting.

Find Conditional formatting item in the standard Google Sheets menu

To begin with, let's consider Google Sheets conditional formatting using a single color.

Click Format cells if..., select the option "Greater than or equal to" in the drop-down list that you see, and enter "200" in the field below. This means that within the range we selected, all cells with values that are greater than or equal to 200 will be highlighted using the format we set right at the same place: bold red font in the yellow background.

Set up conditional formatting rule in Google spreadsheet

We can see our formatting rule applied right away: all the necessary cells changed their appearance.

You have the choice of setting up conditional formatting not only with one hue but using a color scale. To do this, select Color scale in the conditional format rules sidebar and use ready sets of color. You can also pick hues for the minimum and maximum points, as well as for the midpoint if necessary.

Use a color scale for the values to format in Google Sheets

Here we created a color scale where the cells get lighter as the order amount gets smaller, and darker as the sum increases.

Format cells in Google Sheets by multiple conditions

If the color scale seems too bright to you, you can create several conditions under the "Single color" tab and specify a format for each condition separately. To do this, click "Add another rule".

Let's highlight the orders that are over $200 in Total sales, and those that are under $100.

As you can see, we have two formatting conditions here. The first one is for values that are greater than 200, the second one concerns values that are less than 100.

Conditional formatting rules in Google spreadsheet

Tip. You can add as many conditional formatting rules in Google Sheets as you need. To delete it, just point to it and click the Remove icon.

Google Sheets conditional formatting with custom formulas

The suggested list of the conditions that we can apply to our data range is quite vast. However, it may still not be enough. Sooner or later you will need to create a condition that can't be described using the standard means.

That's why Google Sheets provide the possibility to enter your own formula as a condition. This formula lets you describe your requirements using standard functions and operators. In other words, the result of the formula must be either "True" or "False".

Use the last item in the drop-down list to enter your formula: "Custom formula is".

Google spreadsheet lets you create conditional formatting rules with a custom formula

Let's see how it works.

Say we want to know which among our orders were made during the weekend. None of the standard conditions works for us.

We will select the range of dates in A2:A22, go to the Format menu and click Conditional formatting. Select the "Custom formula is" item in the "Format cells if" drop-down list and enter the logical formula that will help us identify the day of the week by the date.


If the number is greater than 5, then it's Saturday or Sunday. In this case, the formatting we set below will be applied to the cell.

Highlight data in Google Sheets by custom condition

As you can see, all weekends are highlighted with color now.

Here is another example. Let's bring out the orders for dark chocolate with the help of a different format. We follow the same steps to do this: select the data range with the types of chocolate (D2:D22) and use the following condition:


This function will return "True" if the name of the chocolate type contains the word "Dark".

Highlight cells based on the text they contain

Look what we got: the orders for Dark Chocolate as well as for Extra Dark Chocolate became emphasized. No need to look through hundreds of rows to find them now.

Use wildcard characters with conditional formatting in Google spreadsheets

If we want to format text values, then the standard "Text contains" condition is essential.

Format text values by the text they contain

You can use special wildcard characters to add some flexibility to the search condition.

Tip. Wildcard characters can be used in the "Text contains" and "Text does not contain" fields as well as in your custom formulas.

There are two most commonly used characters: the question sign (?) and an asterisk (*).

The question sign corresponds to any single character. For example, as you can see in the screenshot, the text rule that contains "??d" formats cells with such values as "Red", but not such as "Dark".

"??d" means that letter "d" should come third from the beginning of the word.

Use an asterisk to omit zero to any number of characters. For example, a rule that contains "*d*" should format both cells: with "Red" as well as with "Dark" values.

For the question and asterisk characters not to be perceived as wildcard characters in your text values, a tilde (~) is usually added before them. E.g. the text rule that contains "Re?" in our example formats the cells with "Red", while the rule with "Re~?" won't find any cells as it will be looking for the value "Re?".

How to use Google Sheets conditional formatting to highlight entire rows

In the examples we described above, we applied conditional formatting to certain cells of a column. Perhaps you thought: "It would be so nice if we could apply this to the whole table!". And you can!

Let's try to highlight any unfulfilled orders with a special color. To do this, we need to use the formatting condition for the data in column G where we specified if the order was completed, and we shall format the entire table.
Format the entire row based on the condition in one column

Note. Please note that we applied formatting to the entire table A1:G22.

Then we used our custom formula where we specified that:


Tip. You need to use the dollar sign ($) before the name of the column. This creates an absolute reference to it, so the formula will always refer to this particular column, while the row number can change.

In other words, we ask it to move down within the column starting with the first row and look for all cells with the value "No".

As you can see, not only the cells that we checked for our condition became formatted. Conditional formatting is now applied to entire rows.

So, let's remember 3 basic rules to conditionally format rows in a table:

  • The range to be formatted is the entire table
  • We use conditional formatting with a custom formula
  • We must use the $ character before the column name

Google Sheets conditional formatting based on another cell

We often hear the question "How do we apply conditional formatting and make it easy to change the condition?" This is not difficult at all.

Just use your own formula with a reference to the cell where you specify the necessary condition.

Let's go back to our sample data with the orders for chocolate in Google Sheets. Suppose we are interested in the orders with fewer than 50 and more than 100 items. We'll go ahead and enter these conditions in column H next to our table.

Use custom formulas to quickly edit the conditions

Now we shall create conditional formatting rules for the table of orders.

We set the range to format to "A2:G22" to keep the table header as it is.

Then we follow the steps you know and use our formula.

Refer to the cells with conditions in custom formatting rules

Here is how conditional formatting formula for the orders with over 100 items looks:


Note. Please note that you need to use absolute references ($) when using cells outside the table.

Let me remind you that character $ before the column name means absolute reference to the column. If the dollar sign is before the row number, then absolute reference goes for the row.

$H$3 in our example means an absolute reference to the cell, i.e. whatever you do with the table, the formula will still refer to this cell.

Note. We need to use an absolute reference to column E and an absolute reference to cell H3 where we have our limit of 100. If we don't do this, the formula won't work!

Now let's add the second condition to highlight the orders with fewer than 50 items. Click "Add another rule" and add another condition just like we did for the first one.

Add multiple custom conditions

Please see the formula we use in our conditional formatting rule:


The largest and the smallest orders are now highlighted with color. The task is accomplished. However, it's not nice that we got extra numbers in our sheet, which may be confusing and ruin the way the table looks.

Placing auxiliary data in a separate sheet would be a better way to go. I will describe it in more detail in my next post when we learn how to create drop-down lists.

Let's switch to sheet 2 and enter these new conditions there.
Enter the conditions in a separate-sheet

Now we can create conditional formatting rules for the table of orders by referring to these limits.

Here is where we may face an issue. If we simply use the address of the cell from sheet 2 in the formula, we'll get an error.

You may see

Note. Direct cell references in the formulas for conditional formatting are possible only from the current sheet.

So, what shall we do now? The INDIRECT function will help. It lets you get the cell reference by writing its address as text. Here is how the cell reference within a conditional formatting formula will look like:


use INDIRECT function to refer to cells in other sheets

Here is the second formula:


As a result, we get the same outcome as before, but our sheet is not cluttered with additional records.

Bring conditions to other sheets

Now we can change formatting conditions without updating the rule settings. It's enough to simply change the records in the cells, and you get a new table.

Google Sheets and conditional formatting based on another cell text

We have learned how to apply conditional formatting rules by using numeric data from a certain cell. What if we want to base our condition on a cell with text? Let's see how we can do this together.

We'll try to find the orders for dark chocolate:

In cell G5 of Sheet 2, we enter our condition: "Dark".

Then we return to Sheet 1 with the table and select the range to format again: A2:G22.

Then we select Format menu, pick Conditional formatting, and enter the following formula into the Custom formula is field:


Tip. Remember that you need to enter absolute references to the range you need to check for the word "Dark" (D2:D22).

The function INDIRECT("2!$G$5") enables us to get the value from cell G5 of Sheet2, i.e. the word "Dark".

Format entire rows based on the value in another cell in Google Sheets

Thus, we have highlighted the orders that have the word from cell G5 of Sheet 2 as a part of the product name.

We could make it easier, of course. Our formula would look this way:


However, in case we wanted to find a different product, we would have to edit the conditional formatting rule. This takes a little longer than simply updating the value in cell G5.

Remove conditional formatting from your Google spreadsheet

You may certainly need to remove all conditional formats from your table.

To do this, first, select the range of cells where you have conditional formatting applied.

You will see all the rules that you created in the sidebar.

Delete conditional formatting rules from Google sheets

Point your mouse to the condition that needs to be deleted and click the "Remove" icon. Conditional formatting will be cleared.

If you don't remember the exact cell range you formatted, or if you want to get rid of formats as quickly as possible, then select the cell range and go to the Format menu - Clear formatting. You can also use the combination of keys Ctrl + \.

Note. Remember that not only conditional formatting, but all other formats used in your table will be cleared in this case.

We hope that applying conditional formatting in Google Sheets will simplify your work and make the results more graphic.

You may also be interested in:

66 Responses to "How to work with conditional formatting in Google Sheets"

  1. Gábor says:

    Hi, Alexander! Your description is excellent (clear&detailed). Thanks.
    I have only one question which is not covered above. How can I refer to a named range (i. e. cell or range)? It doesn't work for me.
    Thanks in advance for your response.
    Best regards, Gábor (Budapest, Hungary)

  2. jb says:

    I have a question. is there a formula or way, where a cell changes its value when you change the value of the the other. like for example. if on cell contains 5 and the other cell with change to 0 since may desired formula is "put 0 if the value is less than or equal to 5 if not put 5"?


  3. Pam says:

    I am trying to create a formula that will transfer a cell with all formatting saved.. IE: I have a list of names in several cells... all names are different colored, some are lined through and some cells have different background colors.... If I use ='PLAYER'!A1 the name copies over but all formatting is lost.... What formula would I use to carry all formatting to the cell I am coping into??

  4. AH says:

    How can I create a formula so that the cell that is the greatest, second greatest and third greatest will be highlighted, each in a different color?

    For example: my list of numbers is 12, 24, 19, 10, 3, 5, 30. I want it to highlight 30 (the greatest number) in red, 24 (the second greatest) in hot pink, and 19 (the third greatest) in baby pink.

    What formula would I use/how would I do that?

    Thank you!

  5. Martin says:

    Hi there,

    I use conditional formatting on a row (ex. E4:T4) -> I need this format on every single row until E1000:T1000. If I copy and paste special (format only) i get the conditional formatting to cover the range of E4:T1000 insted of:


    Is there a short cut to make the conditional formatting for every single row instead?

    Hope for help.

    BR Martin

  6. Derek says:


    I am trying to create a traffic light system that transfers a Green from master page 1 to Green on page 2 and 3.

    I am using formula =IF("Page 1!D5"="Green",1,0) and format green works great for single cell.

    When I try =IF("Page 1!D5:D10"="Green",1,0) I get no formatting even if all cells are Green. Is there a way to make this work.

    I have 3 conditional formats so Amber and Red also



  7. Menachem says:


    I have a list of student in columns B and C (last name in B, first name in C).
    I have checkboxes in column A. I want the students names to turn red when the checkbox is not checked (ie, it has a value of "FALSE).
    I have set the range in the conditional formatting as B3:C58, becuase that's where the list is, then I select "text contains", and type =A3:A="FALSE".
    However, nothing is happening when I do this, even though there are many unchecked (ie, "FALSE) checkboxes in column A.
    Please advise!

    • Doug says:

      Are each of the checkboxes linked to another cell?
      If not, link the cells to another cell and format that cell based on it's True or False condition. If that works, you should be able to change the color of the cells containing the names based on the value of the cells that contain True or False.

  8. Dan says:

    I have a code that timestamps when i make a change to a cell, i now want to doa conditional format that an hour after that timestamp it turns red so it stands out for me to follow up.

    also when i am creating conditional formats when i delete a row it mess's up which cells it does on "apply to range"

  9. Ibrahim says:

    How to apply conditional formatting in colums for duplicate text with different color (same as color scale, but for text)

  10. Joanna Lamb says:

    I was able to do a conditional formatting for an entire row by doing =$E1="Speech" however this is only highlighting rows where the cell equals "speech" and I would like to do it for all that CONTAIN "speech" is this possible?

  11. shubham says:


    Currently, I am using conditional formatting to color a cell based on the number from a different cell. I need to do a total of 4 colors for 4 set of range so I am using custom conditional formatting for each range. For some reason, only 3 of my 4 conditions are working. how can I fix this problem and also, is there a simpler way of doing such a format?

  12. Damien says:

    Can you use "AND" statements in Custom Formulas for conditional formatting.

    I am trying to conditional format based on two conditions, e.g.
    If (A2 = "text") AND (B2>indirect("sheet1!A2))

    I tried the following:
    =AND(F2="Lower", E2>Indirect("Summary!H$2)) But seems to give an error?

    Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


    • Hello, Damien,

      AND can be used in conditional formatting, and the formula you use looks fine.

      I kindly ask you to share your sample spreadsheet with us ( where your custom formula doesn't work.

      We'll look into the file and do our best to advice you.

  13. Carly says:

    Hello! Hoping you can help.
    I am trying to organize a large event (reunion). I have everyone's name typed in to a spreadsheet and a google form linking to their responses of coming or not coming. As they fill out this form, is there a way to have their name turn green on the master list of names, so that I can easily see who has not answered the google form? Rather than having to go through each name and manually check it off the master list? Thanks!

  14. Julien says:


    Great post. Any chance when you do your formatting to sort the value by colors. In other word get for exemple all your green values at the top and the rest following.. thanks a lot!

  15. Patrick Sabian says:

    need help please with following

    column A Column B Column C
    1 Monday Site 1 employee 1
    2 Monday Site 2 employee 2
    3 Monday Site 3 employee 2
    4 Tuesday Site 1 employee 1
    5 Tuesday Site 2 employee 2
    6 Tuesday Site 3 employee 3
    7 Wednesday Site 1 employee 3
    8 Wednesday Site 2 employee 1
    9 Wednesday Site 3 employee 2

    how do i make c3 change colour in google sheets because it matches as employee cant be assigned to two sites in one day

  16. Patricia says:

    Is it possible yet to highlight just text within a cell, not the whole cell in Google sheets?

    • Thank you for your question, Patricia.

      Conditional formatting in Google Sheets lets you change not only the background color of cells but also font color.
      When you set the rule, simply pick the color you need using the Text color tool (the icon with "A") and make sure the Fill color is set to None.

      Hope this helps.

  17. Daniel Vázquez says:

    hi, in excel there is a function that help us to find values replicated, but in drive i cant find this options... help please

    • Hi, Daniel,

      Most of the functions that work in Excel work in Google Sheets as well.
      You can try building the formulas described in this blog post to find replicated data in your spreadsheet.

      Alternatively, we have a special add-on designed to look for duplicate and unique values in Google Sheets. It's called Remove Duplicates. You can evaluate the tool for 30 days for free and see if it works for you.

      Hope you'll find these tips useful.

  18. Trivedi Singh says:

    Dear Sir,
    Please Suggest me how i can apply Conditional formatting as per below given data:
    A B C D

    Trivedi Singh

  19. Bodhi says:

    Thanks for the great help to various questions. I have created a simple "To do" list for my office tasks. As soon as a task row is completed, I have set conditional formatting to strike how that task and mark status and percentage in status and progress columns.
    This works for the tasks that are of one time like "Defining Scope of the project". However, in case of recurring tasks like "Send the weekly Status reports", what I am looking for is - as soon as one row for the task "Weekly Status Reports" is Striked out as completed, another normal row of the same content is inserted below it (by same content I mean the content which was there before being striked out, the percentage set to blank and status also set to blank) (by normal I mean which is not striked out). I want to do this since this will be a recurring task.
    Please can you help me on this?

  20. Steven Haal says:

    Okay I have a weird thing going on: Anytime I type the word "Lenten" or "Lent" in a cell, it turns green. There are no conditional formatting active on the entire spreadsheet. Any ideas?

    • mp says:

      You're searching for "lent", so when you type it into a cell it is showing up green because it's highlighting the search term. Everyone does this at some point. Some of us do it more than once. :)

  21. C R says:


    I have a gantt chart and I'm trying to show coverage in main headers for the gantt chart when there is a different color cell. So for example,

    row D5:BD7 and I want to highlight row 5 when there is a colored cell in rows 6 and 7. So let's assume that row 5 will be orange, and there is orange colored in G6:P6, AM6:AQ6 and there is orange colored I7:M7, R7:Y7, AG7:BC7.

    How do I put in conditional formatting to make this happen in row 5?


  22. GMcK says:

    How do I format a cell to change colour if it is still empty after a certain day.
    For example I want it to turn red 28days after 07/01/2019 if the cell is still empty.

  23. Rob Ross says:

    I need to find and remove duplicates from my google sheet. The formula provided does not seem to work. The instructions are confusing. I wish someone could explain it to me like I was a 12-year-old. Very frustrating. =countif(A:A,A1)>1. I need it for column C so =countif(A:A,C1)>1?

  24. paula says:

    I got lost about "$3" of the "=$E2>=$H$3" I understand the "if E2>= H" but what the "$3" means? Why not simply "=$E2>=$H2"?

  25. Daniel Hidalgo says:

    Excellent article !!

  26. Dillon says:


    I am trying to organize a table of data with cells that contain both numbers and words. Each cell has datum similar to: "25.5 Minutes". I would like to highlight all cells that have more than 120 Minutes, but cant seem to find a way. Any help would be most appreciated!

  27. JD says:

    Do you know of a way to make a list from formatted cells? I am trying to create a new list from highlighted cells in a column.

  28. Vanessa Plett says:

    I would like to be able to colour a whole row based on a date in one cell. I want the row highlighted if the date in one of the cells is before 3 years ago today.

  29. Alex says:

    I am trying to format an entire row to become a color if a particular cell is not empty. My research indicates that the formula that is supposed to work for this is =$H4034" ", (4034 is the row I'm in at the moment) but it isn't working, possibly because there is already another formula (for how a date needs to look) for the whole spreadsheet...? Because of this, I've tried any number of formulas based on how a date looks when entered, using numbers, using the "/" symbol, using "?" & "*", and I can't get any of them to work. Please help. I've been trying to figure this out for a week, and I'm at my wits end.

  30. natalie says:

    I would like to ask 1 question. when doing a conditional formating,
    for the format rules, can i use text that contains "a range"
    for example, my data range is D2:D50, and i want to highlight cells that has duplicates/ names that are found in range D60:D70.
    Is that possible??? have been trying to solve this for 2 days
    thank you so much...

  31. Daniel says:

    I am having the same issue as Natalie
    I would like to format row H, if the value matches any cell from sheet IP in row A
    This is what I have, but it does not seem to work

    If I compare to only 1 cell from sheet IP then all is well

    Is this possible?

    • The formula like you wrote does work for me. I even mention this way in this article.
      Please make sure you apply the rule to the correct range, for example, H2:H20.

      If this doesn't work, please share a small sample spreadsheet with us ( with your source data and the rules you use. I kindly ask you to shorten the tables to 10-20 rows.
      Note. We keep for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Please do not email there. Once you share the file, just confirm in this message thread.
      I'll look into your task and do my best to help.

  32. Daniel says:

    I've shared a sample sheet as I cannot get it to compare

    Just to confirm, I'd like to highlight any entries in column H that apear on sheet IP in column A

  33. Amos Pillay says:

    Hi Natalia!
    I need your help!
    I below is a small illustration of my table. the 1st row "1 2 3 4" runs till 31 and represents the days of the month. So my objective is to highlight entire column based on the current day of the month, and also highlight the name of the person where their value is "1" on current day of month

    1 2 3 4
    TOM 1 0 1 0
    JACK 0 1 1 0
    JILL 0 0 0 0

    This works for highlighting the column based on day of month, but I cant get the formula to high the name base on the value in the current day.
    What I have so far:

    Thank you so much!

    • Hi Amos,

      What if you try the following?

      This highlights all cells with "1" based on the day of the month (today).

      • Amos Pillay says:

        Hi Natalia,
        Thank you so much for your reply. I managed to solve it in a different way.
        I created an extra column (hidden) with the formula =HLOOKUP(DAY(TODAY()),/*my data range*/,6). Then in my 1st column where I have the names, my custom formula for the conditional formatting was to check and highlight the name if that hidden column contains a '1' in that row. But thanks a lot anyways :)

  34. Idir Merakeb says:

    I am trying to format a column base on the date of the case is less than today + 7 weeks.
    do you have a solution.

    Thank you.

    • Hello Idir,

      For us to be able to help you better, please share a small sample spreadsheet with us ( with your source data and the result you expect to get. I kindly ask you to shorten the table to 10-20 rows.
      Note. We keep that email for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Once you share the file, just confirm by replying here.
      Thank you.

  35. Roque says:

    I am currently doing a column-date based formatting in which when a certain task is done passed the deadline, it will highlight the cell red and green if it is done before or exact date of the deadline.
    Cell F11(Deadline) = June 30
    Cell G11(Date Done) = July 1(Passed deadline)
    and what I want is for G11 to highlight in red or green(depends on the date) accordingly to the value if F11 without changing the value within the formula on the conditional format rules as to we have different values for the deadline.

    Thanks in advance.

  36. MG says:

    I'm trying to create a search box that will allow users to enter a name and the items that start with the same first letter will be highlighted and all brought to the top of the sheet or open in a new window.

Post a comment
