Hightlight cells which require input

Question

Hi All

How can I highlight the cells that require input by others but will not show cells highlighted (coloured) if no data is keyed.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

... I need the blank cellls to be printed as a BLANK cell (without colour) ...

Go to the ribbon's Page Layout tab and click the small arrow in the lower right corner of the Page Setup section.

                  

When the Page Setup dialog opens, go to the Sheet tab and put a checkmark beside Black and white in the middle Print section. Check the print status of the color highlighted cells with the Print Preview button, then click OK to save and exit.

Answer 2

Hi JLLatham

Although your answer is not what I want but it helps me to save more work in designing my form.

Thanks.

vcff

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply.

one issue.

If I have mulitiple cells formated for input (highlighted in colour) but not all cells may have the data (blank cell) and upon printing, the blank cells will be printed in colour.

I need the blank cellls to be printed as a BLANK cell (without colour).

Regards

vcff

Answer 4

I read your request a little differently than I think Ashish Mathur has.

As I understand it, you want the cells that others need to enter data in to remain unhighlighted until something indicates it is time for those others to make entries into those cells?  If I've interpreted this properly, then read on...

First identify a cell that we will use as the indicator cell - when something is entered into it, it means that it time for the "others" to provide input into what will become highlighted cells.  For the example I will pick cell A1 as that indicator cell.  And I will assume that you want to highlight cells C3:E7 when it is time for them to be filled in by others.

Select the cells C3:E7 and go to Home > Styles > Condition formatting > New Rule > Use a formula to determine which cells to format

In the formula box, enter  =AND($A$1<>"",C3="")

Apply the cell shading as desired and click [OK] to finish up.  As Ashish Mathur indicated you can even copy/paste special the format to other cells.

After that, the cells C3:E7 will remain unshaded until you make an entry into A1 and will remain shaded until someone makes an entry into them at which time they will become unhighlighted.

Answer 5

Hi,

So you want to highlight cells which require inputs and when data is entered in them, you want the colour to vamish

1. Click on cell A1 and go to Home > Styles > Condition formatting > New Rule > Use a formual to determine which cells to format

2. In the formula box there, enter =A1=""
3. Apply any background colouring
4. Click on OK > Finish
5. Copy cell A1, select the range, right click > Paste Special > Formats

Hope this helps.