Excel - Shading entire row based on change of value

Question

I would like to shade entire rows in Excel based on the value of one cell. For example say I have the rows below:

**File No**
1122
1122
1144
1155
1155
1155
         


        

Answer 1

I had to do something similar for my users, with a small variant that they want to have a running number grouping the similar items. Thought I'd share it here.

• Make a new column A
• Assuming the first row of data is in row 2 (row 1 being header), put 1 in A2
• Assuming your File No is in column B, in the second row (in this case A3) make the formula =IF(B3=B2,A2,A2+1)
• Fill/copy-paste cell A3 down the column to the last row (be careful not to copy A2 by accident; that will populate all cells with 1)
• Select the data range
• In the Home ribbon select Conditional Formatting -> New Rule
• Choose Use a formula to determine which cells to format
• In the formula cell, put =MOD($A1, 2)=1 as the formula
• Click Format, select the Fill tab
• Select the Background Color you want, then click OK
• Click OK