Google Spreadsheet conditional formatting script

Question

I am trying to figure out how to use conditional formatting on a google spreadsheet similar to what you can do in excel via a formula.

I want cell A2 to change to Gr

Answer 1

With the latest Sheet API you can programmatically add a conditional formatting rule to your sheet to do the highlighting.

You can add a custom formula rule that will set the background colour to green in column A where column O is "X" like this:

function applyConditionalFormatting() {
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName('Sheet1');

  var numRows = sheet.getLastRow();
  var rangeToHighlight = sheet.getRange("A2:A" + numRows);
  var rule = SpreadsheetApp.newConditionalFormatRule()
      .whenFormulaSatisfied('=INDIRECT("R[0]C[14]", FALSE)="X"')
      .setBackground("green")
      .setRanges([rangeToHighlight])
      .build();

  var rules = sheet.getConditionalFormatRules();
  rules.push(rule);
  sheet.setConditionalFormatRules(rules);
}

The range that the conditional formatting applies to is the A column from row 2 to the last row in the sheet.

The custom formula is:

=INDIRECT("R[0]C[14]", FALSE)="X"

which means go 14 columns to the right of the selected range column and check if its value is "X".

Column O is 14 columns to the right of column A.