Conditional formatting: how to use OR for names?

[ke]

Hello,

There are several names that appear as repeated entries in my
worksheet, and I'd like each name to be color-coded, so that cells
containing "Joe" are shaded green, cells containing "Frank" are shaded
blue, etc.

I can use conditional formatting to find all cells equal to "Joe" and
shade them green. But what if I want to use green shading for "Joe" OR
"Susan", blue for "Frank" OR "Ann", etc? How do I enter the OR
condition in the window of the Format > Conditional Formatting dialog
box? The following didn't work,
=OR("Joe", "Susan")

I am up against the 3-condition limit, so entering individual
conditions for each name won't work.

Thanks
Kate

[Bob Phillips]

You need to use the cell reference

=OR(A2="Joe",A2="Susan")

where A2 is the active cell.

You will also need to change condition 1 to Formula Is, as with 2 and 3

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from email address if mailing direct)

"ke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello,
>
> There are several names that appear as repeated entries in my
> worksheet, and I'd like each name to be color-coded, so that cells
> containing "Joe" are shaded green, cells containing "Frank" are shaded
> blue, etc.
>
> I can use conditional formatting to find all cells equal to "Joe" and
> shade them green. But what if I want to use green shading for "Joe" OR
> "Susan", blue for "Frank" OR "Ann", etc? How do I enter the OR
> condition in the window of the Format > Conditional Formatting dialog
> box? The following didn't work,
> =OR("Joe", "Susan")
>
> I am up against the 3-condition limit, so entering individual
> conditions for each name won't work.
>
> Thanks
> Kate
>