Conditional Formatting of Table Rows based on value in a Column

I'm working in Excel 2010.

I setup a table with a column titled "Type". Each value under column "Type" defines the type of row it is: "Section", "SubSection", "SubSubSection"

I wish to create a set of conditional formatting rules that apply to data rows in this table, each rule controlling how cells within a whole row should be formatted, according to the value found in "Type", for that row.

Example:

Rule1: [@Type]="Section" -> fat red line on top of cell.
Rule2: [@Type]="SubSection" -> thin black line on top of cell.
Rule3: [@Type]="SubSubSection" -> dashed black line on top of cell.

I can't seem to make this work.

How can I leverage the nice column names, and the "@"-this row designator, within a table to create conditional formatting rules that apply to all the cells within a row, in the same way one can refer to in table formulas?

I think I am following you. Try this:

Select the range you want to format, including the Type column and all columns you wish to change the formatting. Assuming "Type" is column A and your data starts in row 2, you can create 3 conditions, using formulas. For the formulas, use:

Rule 1:
=$A2="Section" then specify formatting

Rule 2:
=$A2="SubSection" then specify formatting

Rule 3:
=$A2="SubSubSection" then specify formatting

Originally Posted by jasoncw

I think I am following you. Try this:

Select the range you want to format, including the Type column and all columns you wish to change the formatting. Assuming "Type" is column A and your data starts in row 2, you can create 3 conditions, using formulas. For the formulas, use:

Rule 1:
=$A2="Section" then specify formatting

Rule 2:
=$A2="SubSection" then specify formatting

Rule 3:
=$A2="SubSubSection" then specify formatting

Yes, this works.

I was lacking the initial "=" in the formulas for cond. formatting!
Excel will choke if I try to use names of tables or columns to spec conditional formatting. As much as I'd prefer to spec these with column names to facilitate future maintenance, it's a minor gripe at this point. Excel will successfully manage reorganizing columns, as it'll rehash the rules to continue pointing to the desired column.