Conditional Formatting for one column based on blanks in another column

[loserName]

Hello!

I'm trying to set conditional formatting on column H cells where the cell in column A is blank. So if A5 is blank, H5 should be in bold; if A6 contains a value (in this case, a date), then H6 should not be bold.

I've tried the following formula for H:H...

=IF($A5="",TRUE,FALSE)

...but all cells in H are in bold no matter the value in A.

 

[Joe4]

Welcome to the Board!

The formula you use MUST reflect the first cell in the range you have selected. So if you are selecting the ENTIRE column H (H:H), the first cell is H1, which would be looking at A1, not A5.
So I would try one of these two formulas:

=$A1=""

or

=LEN($A1)=0

If you use the absolute/relative range references correctly, Excel will automatically adjust it for all other cells in your range (like when you copy/paste a formula down a column).

BTW, you do not need to be use an IF and explicitly return TRUE or FALSE. Just create a boolean expression, like I did above.
If they are equal, it will return TRUE. If not, it will return FALSE.

And don't forget to select your bold formatting option (I forgot to do that one time and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work!).

 

[Greg Truby]

If you are highlighting H:H when applying this, then you'd need to reference A1 in the formula.
Also, your formula could simply be

=Len($A1)=0


Edit: I guess I'm too slow of a typist! Hiya, Joe!

 

[Joe4]

A Greg Truby sighting!
To what do I owe this great honor!
(nice to see you again, Greg!)

 

[loserName]

Thank you both! That seems like a very rookie mistake on my part...

 

[Greg Truby]

A Greg Truby sighting!
To what do I owe this great honor!
(nice to see you again, Greg!)

Had five minutes to kill before a meeting, thought I'd pop in right quick.

 

[Misca]

Welcome to the msg board!

The formula you're looking for should be simply

=$A5=""

or

=$A5<>""

depending on if you have already formatted the H5 bold or not (ie. should the conditional formatting turn the bold on or off when the formula returns true).