Google Sheets Conditional Formatting – Using Cell Contents in Custom Rules

conditional formattinggoogle sheets

For example, given the sheet below:

A colourful sheet

I'd like the background colours of columns B-D to change automatically when I update the values in column A

Is that possible? I'm looking for a solution that will work with any colour, without preprogramming the sheet in some way to be aware of a fixed set of colours.

Best Answer

Going to answer this one as the answer from the post: "Google Spreadsheets conditional formatting based on another cell's content" is outdated.

To answer your question: Highlight the Range that you need conditional formatting, then go to "Format > Conditional Formatting" and for each Color you will add a unique conditional format.

  • Apply to Range: the range you selected previously

  • Format Cells if: "custom formula"

    • Formula in plain English: Anything in the corresponding cell in column A on the same Row that contains the characters "Red", the formula would be: 

      =A:A="Red"

    • And then just choose red background from the color picker in the conditional formatting sidebar.

    • Repeat this process for each color.

Example file here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sJtSrvFpKxmxUgzvrtIQzhYmxqeoR0FWVHpzNV5bIgQ/edit?usp=sharing

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