[SOLVED] Conditional formatting - on an empty cell condition in _another_ cell?

I've looked and looked in the archives but I'm not able to find
something this simple and I can't get anything that I've tried to
work.

When a cell in B1 is not empty, i.e., filled, I need the cell in A1 to
change. I know what to do with the formatting, I just can't get
anything to work with the formula in B1. I never realized that up
till now the formatting has been conditional on the cell I'm actually
in. This time, condition is dependent on an outside cell, and that
seems to be what is stumping me.

Can someone provide an example, ple? TIA. :oD

"StargateFan" wrote:

> I've looked and looked in the archives but I'm not able to find
> something this simple and I can't get anything that I've tried to
> work.
>
> When a cell in B1 is not empty, i.e., filled, I need the cell in A1 to
> change. I know what to do with the formatting, I just can't get
> anything to work with the formula in B1. I never realized that up
> till now the formatting has been conditional on the cell I'm actually
> in. This time, condition is dependent on an outside cell, and that
> seems to be what is stumping me.
>
> Can someone provide an example, ple? TIA. :oD
>
>

Try this

Select Cell A1. Go to Format > Conditional Formatting.

Select Formula Is from the drop down box and enter

=ISBLANK(B1)

in the textbox

Careful though. Both of these will return FALSE, and the formatting will not
be applied if you have just a space in the cell. The cell will look empty but
will not be!

HTH

On Mon, 29 May 2006 11:08:01 -0700, Matt Lunn
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
>"StargateFan" wrote:
>
>> I've looked and looked in the archives but I'm not able to find
>> something this simple and I can't get anything that I've tried to
>> work.
>>
>> When a cell in B1 is not empty, i.e., filled, I need the cell in A1 to
>> change. I know what to do with the formatting, I just can't get
>> anything to work with the formula in B1. I never realized that up
>> till now the formatting has been conditional on the cell I'm actually
>> in. This time, condition is dependent on an outside cell, and that
>> seems to be what is stumping me.
>>
>> Can someone provide an example, ple? TIA. :oD
>>
>>
>
>Try this
>
>Select Cell A1. Go to Format > Conditional Formatting.
>
>Select Formula Is from the drop down box and enter
>
>=ISBLANK(B1)
>
>in the textbox
>
>Careful though. Both of these will return FALSE, and the formatting will not
>be applied if you have just a space in the cell. The cell will look empty but
>will not be!
>
>HTH

Yes, it is a great help! Almost there. I just couldn't figure out
how to do this. Re the issue with being careful of _anything_ in the
cell, no problem as I have a pulldown with text in so user input is
somewhat controlled.

However, the condition is backwards; sorry I wasn't clear enough <g>.
The condition should apply when the cell is filled, not blank so that
the above works only if B1 has _no_ value. Is there any way to do the
opposite of this once a user has chosen a value from the pulldown? Is
there code for that? I imagine that's why I couldn't find anything in
the archives as I didn't know the terminololgy for "isblank" or its
opposite.

Thanks.

=NOT(ISBLANK(B1))

HTH
--
AP

"StargateFan" <IDon'tAcceptSpam@IDon'tAcceptSpam.com> a écrit dans le
message de news: [email protected]...
> On Mon, 29 May 2006 11:08:01 -0700, Matt Lunn
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>"StargateFan" wrote:
>>
>>> I've looked and looked in the archives but I'm not able to find
>>> something this simple and I can't get anything that I've tried to
>>> work.
>>>
>>> When a cell in B1 is not empty, i.e., filled, I need the cell in A1 to
>>> change. I know what to do with the formatting, I just can't get
>>> anything to work with the formula in B1. I never realized that up
>>> till now the formatting has been conditional on the cell I'm actually
>>> in. This time, condition is dependent on an outside cell, and that
>>> seems to be what is stumping me.
>>>
>>> Can someone provide an example, ple? TIA. :oD
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Try this
>>
>>Select Cell A1. Go to Format > Conditional Formatting.
>>
>>Select Formula Is from the drop down box and enter
>>
>>=ISBLANK(B1)
>>
>>in the textbox
>>
>>Careful though. Both of these will return FALSE, and the formatting will
>>not
>>be applied if you have just a space in the cell. The cell will look empty
>>but
>>will not be!
>>
>>HTH
>
> Yes, it is a great help! Almost there. I just couldn't figure out
> how to do this. Re the issue with being careful of _anything_ in the
> cell, no problem as I have a pulldown with text in so user input is
> somewhat controlled.
>
> However, the condition is backwards; sorry I wasn't clear enough <g>.
> The condition should apply when the cell is filled, not blank so that
> the above works only if B1 has _no_ value. Is there any way to do the
> opposite of this once a user has chosen a value from the pulldown? Is
> there code for that? I imagine that's why I couldn't find anything in
> the archives as I didn't know the terminololgy for "isblank" or its
> opposite.
>
> Thanks.
>

On Mon, 29 May 2006 15:36:37 -0400, StargateFan
<IDon'tAcceptSpam@IDon'tAcceptSpam.com> wrote:

>On Mon, 29 May 2006 11:08:01 -0700, Matt Lunn
><[email protected]> wrote:

[SNIP]

>>> When a cell in B1 is not empty, i.e., filled, I need the cell in A1 to
>>> change. I know what to do with the formatting, I just can't get
>>> anything to work with the formula in B1. I never realized that up
>>> till now the formatting has been conditional on the cell I'm actually
>>> in. This time, condition is dependent on an outside cell, and that
>>> seems to be what is stumping me.
>>>
>>> Can someone provide an example, ple? TIA. :oD
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Try this
>>
>>Select Cell A1. Go to Format > Conditional Formatting.
>>
>>Select Formula Is from the drop down box and enter
>>
>>=ISBLANK(B1)

[SNIP]

>However, the condition is backwards; sorry I wasn't clear enough <g>.
>The condition should apply when the cell is filled, not blank so that
>the above works only if B1 has _no_ value. Is there any way to do the
>opposite of this once a user has chosen a value from the pulldown? Is
>there code for that? I imagine that's why I couldn't find anything in
>the archives as I didn't know the terminololgy for "isblank" or its
>opposite.

Actually, I went looking and found something called ISTEXT in the help
files (now that I had an idea of terminology and what I might be able
to look for). I tried this in the conditional formatting for A1:

=ISTEXT(B1)

It seems to work. Is this okay to use? It might not be the best, but
column A will now darken and get a strikethrough in the text once
column A tasks are accomplished and users put "FIXED" in column B.

Thanks.

On Mon, 29 May 2006 21:42:56 +0200, "Ardus Petus"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>=NOT(ISBLANK(B1))

Knew there had to be a better way than ISTEXT! Thanks.

>HTH
>--
>AP
>
>"StargateFan" <IDon'tAcceptSpam@IDon'tAcceptSpam.com> a écrit dans le
>message de news: [email protected]...
>> On Mon, 29 May 2006 11:08:01 -0700, Matt Lunn
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>"StargateFan" wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've looked and looked in the archives but I'm not able to find
>>>> something this simple and I can't get anything that I've tried to
>>>> work.
>>>>
>>>> When a cell in B1 is not empty, i.e., filled, I need the cell in A1 to
>>>> change. I know what to do with the formatting, I just can't get
>>>> anything to work with the formula in B1. I never realized that up
>>>> till now the formatting has been conditional on the cell I'm actually
>>>> in. This time, condition is dependent on an outside cell, and that
>>>> seems to be what is stumping me.
>>>>
>>>> Can someone provide an example, ple? TIA. :oD
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>Try this
>>>
>>>Select Cell A1. Go to Format > Conditional Formatting.
>>>
>>>Select Formula Is from the drop down box and enter
>>>
>>>=ISBLANK(B1)
>>>
>>>in the textbox
>>>
>>>Careful though. Both of these will return FALSE, and the formatting will
>>>not
>>>be applied if you have just a space in the cell. The cell will look empty
>>>but
>>>will not be!
>>>
>>>HTH
>>
>> Yes, it is a great help! Almost there. I just couldn't figure out
>> how to do this. Re the issue with being careful of _anything_ in the
>> cell, no problem as I have a pulldown with text in so user input is
>> somewhat controlled.
>>
>> However, the condition is backwards; sorry I wasn't clear enough <g>.
>> The condition should apply when the cell is filled, not blank so that
>> the above works only if B1 has _no_ value. Is there any way to do the
>> opposite of this once a user has chosen a value from the pulldown? Is
>> there code for that? I imagine that's why I couldn't find anything in
>> the archives as I didn't know the terminololgy for "isblank" or its
>> opposite.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>