Excel - Conditional Formatting - insert row

Question

Using Offset or Indirect in \'Applies To\' does not seem to work. Is there any other way to stop conditional formatting from breaking after inserting row/s

Answer 1

I'm building a solution that others with mixed Excel skill levels will come into play, so I needed something easier and more consistent than to have them remember to copy and paste a certain way.

In Excel 2016, you can insert a table from a selected range which then gives you the benefit of using structured references (example: tblTOP[Type], to reference data in the Type column of the table named tblTOP).

I then found this answer at Microsoft's site that shows an effective way to reference a table in the formula part of CF: conditional formatting structured references

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So, with that established...

This is what I'm working with:

tblTop Columns

I set up my conditional formatting so that when I change the Type value anywhere between A to E, it will change that row to a corresponding color. (Example shown: B turns the row to green)

This was accomplished by using the formula =INDIRECT("tblTOP[Type]")="B"

When I went to add a row though, I got the same formatting applied to that second row :(.

Broke CF between two rows

CF formula that worked

Long story short, the following formula is what I came up with to apply my CF rule to that particular row and not affect any rows being added or taken away:

=INDIRECT("tblTOP[@Type]")="B"

The addition of the '@' in front of the structured reference keeps things happening just for that given row. Nice.

So now I can tab through or use the context menu to add a new row and it awaits the type selection to determine the color for that row only.

New Row added clean

New Row working as expected

I haven't tested it with pasting cells as the purpose of this table is for the end user to enter data and add/delete rows as needed, so I can't say if this will work with pasting a row.

Hope this helps someone with conditional formatting in a table.