Google-sheets – Alternate colored lines in Google Sheets that respect other formattings

google sheets

I accidently read this question about alternate coloring for filter views wrongly and answered a question I had all the time.

The question is: how can I use alternate colored lines but still have other formattings? Whenever I mark a cell yellow, or red, it wouldn't show up because the zebra formatting is obviously just overriding any other formats.

Of course I can exclude that cell or area from the conditional format, but that's really difficult to achieve. I'm looking for easy solutions that will work in day-to-day work.

Best Answer

Even if it is not a really nice way, the following works:

You can add another conditional format and add it before the striping formula. You can change the order of those different formatting rules by clicking on the three dots on the left (see picture).

Obviously it prioritizes by the order in the list, considering higher in the list as more important.

How to move formula

When thinking a little about it, you can add your x formats you usually use to the conditional formats, and just add the cells you want to format like it, whenever needed. Also remember you can always add ranges. Instead of F6,G6,H6 you could also add F6:H6. Instead of G6,G7,H6,H7 you could add G6:H7 and any combination like F6,G6:H7,P9 etc.
This way it is less awkward than first thought.

Apply to many cells