Highlighting cells with same last name with different first names

[davidingilbert]

Hello all -

I am working on a project where I am trying to get Excel to highlight cells that have the same last name, but different set of first names within the same cell.
For example -
Smith, John D.F.
Smith, John DF
Smith, J.D.F

For this example, all three of the people are the same person. I need the cell to highlight based on the last name.

I know it is a formula looking at the name before the comma, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what it is.

I have attached an example.

Thank you.
Dave

[Pete_UK]

You can use a CF rule like this:

=COUNTIF(C:C,LEFT(C3,FIND(",",C3)-1)&"*")>1

Hope this helps.

Pete

[davidingilbert]

Like a charm! Thank you.

[Pete_UK]

Glad to help.

If that takes care of your original question, please take a moment to select Thread Tools from the menu above and to the right of your first post in this thread, and mark the thread as SOLVED.

You might also like to know that you can directly thank those who have helped you by clicking on the small "star" icon located in the lower left corner of a post that you have found to be helpful (not just in this thread - for any post that has helped you). This also adds to the reputation of the poster (the small green bars in the poster's profile).

Pete