Conditional Formatting with Formula

[janema]

I am trying to get the conditional formatting formula to highlight the cell if it does not equal the cell to it's left. See example below. I tried using =Y3<>X3, =$Y$3<>$X$3, =$Y3<>$X3, as well as writing out the formula in the conditional formatting box like =if(Y3<>X3), but not luck. Can anyone help me understand what I'm doing wrong?

If the value in column Y does not equal the value in column X (starting from row 3), I just want it to conditionally format, but it won't cooperate

Thank you in advance for your help and insight into this!

 

[Joe4]

While your help is very, very much appreciated, there is not need to yell. Excel kept automatically changing that number on me, so I didn't know it changed it again there. I'm not purposely not listening.

Who's yelling?
In the on-line world, typing in all caps is how yelling is communicated.

The beginning of my response was actually an answer to your question/comment here:

Just doesn't want to work for me. Unless I am STILL missing something.

Perhaps it would have flowed a bit better if I included that quote above my reply, so it is clear what that was in response to.

It appeared to me that you still weren't understanding what we were explaining, because the image you posted had the exact same situation/issue that we were telling you about.
Sometimes, it is easier to just clear all rule from the sheet and start over than to edit an existing one.

 

[Joe4]

You are welcome.

Sorry for the miscommunication.
Sometimes tone can be hard to convey and misinterpretted in writing.
I often use exclamation points to draw attention to important points (along with underlining and/or bold text, etc).

 

[Anonymous1378]

Nothing's wrong with the formula, are you sure your applies to area is correct? It needs to start with Y3.

 

[janema]

Nothing's wrong with the formula, are you sure your applies to area is correct? It needs to start with Y3.

None of those formulas work. See example below. Every formula I tried above doesn't work. Several of those cells should be highlighted, but they are not. (I moved some columns so now it applies to X and W, but regardless, it's not working.

 

[janema]

I always seem to run into issues with conditional formatting. It turns out wonky. I just want the formula in the conditional formatting to fill the cell with the shade I select if column Y does not equal X. It seems simple, but it won't work. I don't want it to shade the title row though. Ideally, it will look like this if it works (did this manually so far):

 

[Anonymous1378]

I have no such issues

Book4
	W	X
3	3	3
4	3	3
5	2	2
6	3	3
7	3s	3s
8	3s	3s
9	3	3
10	3	3
11	3	3
12	3	3
13	2	2
14	2	2
15	3	3
16	3	3
17	3s	3
18	4	4
19	3	3
20	3	3
21	3	4
22	3	3
23	3	3
24	6	7
25	4	5
26	3	3
Sheet1

Cells with Conditional Formatting
Cell	Condition		Cell Format	Stop If True
X3:X26	Expression	=$W3<>$X3	text	NO

 

[janema]

I have no such issues

Book4
	W	X
3	3	3
4	3	3
5	2	2
6	3	3
7	3s	3s
8	3s	3s
9	3	3
10	3	3
11	3	3
12	3	3
13	2	2
14	2	2
15	3	3
16	3	3
17	3s	3
18	4	4
19	3	3
20	3	3
21	3	4
22	3	3
23	3	3
24	6	7
25	4	5
26	3	3
Sheet1

Cells with Conditional Formatting
Cell	Condition		Cell Format	Stop If True
X3:X26	Expression	=$W3<>$X3	text	NO

Doesn't work for me unfortunately.

 

[Joe4]

After you try setting up the Conditional Formatting Rule, can you go back to it and hit "Manage Rules", and show us what the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager shows (it will look something like this, where it shows BOTH the formulas being used and the ranges they are being applied to):

Just copy/paste that image here so we can see/inspect it.

 

[janema]

After you try setting up the Conditional Formatting Rule, can you go back to it and hit "Manage Rules", and show us what the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager shows (it will look something like this, where it shows BOTH the formulas being used and the ranges they are being applied to):

View attachment 97152
Just copy/paste that image here so we can see/inspect it.

It is applying to conditional formatting incorrectly with this and several other variations I tried. Just doesn't seem to work for me.