Excel 2007 - Conditional Formatting: Compare 3 columns with text - find unique values

2

I have a spreadsheet with three columns, each column listing the folder names found on a server. 

Server1 | Server2 | Server3
--------|---------|---------
A       |         | A
--------|---------|---------
B       | B       | B
--------|---------|---------
C       |         |

Highlighting the 'C' values is easy, but I would also like to highlight the 'A' values. I'm quite sure that I'm not able to do it using only point and click in the GUI, but correct me if I'm wrong.

So bottom line, my question is:

How can I add conditional formatting to cells containing text where the value is found in N or less cells, where N is greater than 1?

Additional information
In Excel I do:

In Excel if I select:
- Home -> Conditional Formatting
- New Rule
- Select a Rule Type -> "Format only unique or duplicate values" and "Edit the Rule Description" --> Formal all: unique
- And select for instance Bold as the format

It will result in the C value to be highlighted.

Which formula can I apply if I select "Use a formula to determine which cells to format" in order to have the A'values highlighted?

rhellem

Posted 2012-10-16T08:50:01.947

Reputation: 123

not 100% sure what you mean but you could try "IF(N)(something)" that will mean that your something will only run if N has a value. – None – 2012-10-16T08:53:59.100

I have updated my description hoping that my question is more to the point. – rhellem – 2012-10-16T09:12:39.823

Now your question is much clearer, unfortunatley I do not think excel can do this easily. There may be a macro for it so hopefully someone else who knows more about macros than I do will be able to answer for you. – None – 2012-10-16T09:25:53.923

@pnuts - correct, because A and C is not present in all three columns – rhellem – 2012-10-16T12:27:29.937

Answers

1

Assuming your data is in Columns A:C, select all of columns A:C use as conditional formula

=AND(NOT(ISBLANK(A1)),COUNTIFS($A:$C,A1)<=3)

If your criteria value is in a cell, replace the 3 with then cell address, eg $E$1

Make sure to use the $ 's as shown

chris neilsen

Posted 2012-10-16T08:50:01.947

Reputation: 4 005

I have ended up using =COUNTIFS($A:$C;A1)<=2 Having some problems still, but that is not the formula, that is Excel and me not being friends...it formats some cells that have the value present in all three columns, and does not format other that is not present in all without any obvious reason for the error. – rhellem – 2012-10-16T12:36:05.620

Asked: 2012-10-16T08:50:01.947

Viewed: 4 441 times

Active: 2012-10-16T10:27:29.527