Filling rows according to cell values & deleting rows with no values

**auslegung** · 01-25-2013, 05:17 PM

I have inherited a spreadsheet with over 800 rows (and daily expanding) and 14 columns of data. It is quite unwieldy and I need some help fixing it up. I've attached a sheet that looks similar, with only 200 rows for reference. Here are my questions:

1. How can I delete all rows that contain no values?
2. I want to fill an entire row of data yellow if the values in the final two cells (L&M) in the row are equal, and red if they aren't. How can I do that?
3. Column A contains only dates, from oldest to newest. I'd like an obvious visual clue for when the months change. Currently it's a long, merged, blue-filled cell that says "March 2011", for instance. It can't be color because all cells need to be filled based on certain criteria (see #2), and borders aren't obvious enough. Any other ideas?
4. I want to click on the row number on the very right, but have it select only columns A-M, is that possible?

I'm also having trouble with autofill. It seems to only work on parts of the spreadsheet. I don't know what settings may have been changed, but I do have autocomplete turned on, and no clue what to do despite hours of googling.

Thanks a lot for your input!

**BB1972** · 01-25-2013, 05:30 PM

auslegung, welcome to the forum.

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**scott.s.fower** · 01-25-2013, 05:34 PM

1. filter the sheet by selecting columns A:M --> click filter --> then filter all except the "blanks" and delete the lines

2. select the whole data set --> go to conditional formatting -->new rule based on a formula =L1=M1 (make sure activecell is the upper left cell of the selection), change the settings to the fill desired
make a new rule for if they are not equal =L1<>M1, change the settings to the fill desired

3. conditional formatting --> you will need one rule for each month --> based on a formula =month(A:A)=1, then format one color, or text color
I would suggest adding a column to the left of col A that has the month written out or with the month number instead, it's less work and easier to sort in the future

4. there are no row numbers on the right, you could add one in column N with a button, but you should also have a macro that will select the desired cells

autofill only works during the session, then it won't work until the next session of data entry (I think, based on my experience)

also, why not use a table instead of this style of spread sheet? a table gives you a bit more versatility, but it's your call

**auslegung** · 01-25-2013, 05:58 PM

scott.s.fower,

Thanks for the speedy and complete reply! A few things aren't working correctly, I'm not sure what's going on.

For #2, I select columns A-M, do the conditional formatting, but it highlights columns C-M, then applies the conditional highlighting to only columns A-B. What have I done wrong?

For #3, thanks for the ideas, I think what I'd like is an incredibly thick top border at the top of the first date in a month. Is there any way to do that?

For #4 I meant the row number on the very left. Essentially, I want to select a row, but for the selection to stop at column M

#1 worked exactly as I was needing, thanks again!

**scott.s.fower** · 01-25-2013, 06:22 PM

2. i'm not sure, are there any merged cells? also make sure you select cell a1 before doing it

3. you should just do that manually

4. again you would have to do that with VBA, sorry