To perform this, we could simply highlight the Status column, and the use the following Ribbon command: That is, we would be formatting a cell based on the value within that cell.

It would be simple because the cells we are formatting are the same cells that have the values to evaluate. Using conditional formatting, it would be pretty easy to highlight just the Status column. We’ll highlight the transaction rows with cell formatting…or, more precisely, a conditional formatting formula. These techniques are fairly straightforward, so, let’s explore another method. Another way is to filter the listing to show only the open invoices. One way to identify the open invoices is to simply sort the list by the Status column so that the open invoices appear in a group. Since this is Excel, there are many ways to accomplish any given task. Here is a screenshot of our sample invoice listing: Let’s say that you have an invoice listing and your objective is to identify the open invoices. Here’s an example that will allow us to put this feature into context. This post explores the details of formatting a cell or range based on the value in another cell. When you want to format a cell based on the value of a different cell, for example to format a report row based on a single column’s value, you can use the conditional formatting feature to create a formatting formula.