Conditional Formatting from another sheet

google-sheets gs-conditional-formatting
Josh picture Josh · Sep 9, 2014 · Viewed 33.6k times · Source

I'm trying to have a cell on Sheet A check if it's either > or < the value in a cell on Sheet B, then change its color accordingly. Under the custom formula I use: =A1>("SheetB!A1"), but it doesn't seem to work. I use the color Green for the > and the color Red for the <. Every time the rules are saved it will always display A1 on Sheet A in red.

Is the function wrong? Or is it not possible to have a Conditional Format even search across sheets?

Answer

AdamL picture AdamL · Sep 9, 2014

For some reason (I confess I don't really know why) a custom formula in conditional formatting does not directly support cross-sheet references.

But cross-sheet references are supported INDIRECT-ly:

=A1>INDIRECT("SheetB!A1")

or if you want to compare A1:B10 on SheetA with A1:B10 on SheetB, then use:

=A1>INDIRECT("SheetB!A1:B10")

=A1>INDIRECT("SheetB!"&CELL("address",A1))

applied to range A1:B10.

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