how can I use conditional formatting in excel to search for a list of values

Question

I have two columns of data, one which contains a large number of values (column a), while the other contains a smaller amount of values(column e). I was wondering if anyone knew how to search for and highlight the values in column a, that are contained in column e (using column e a list of values which should be searched for) Here is what initial setup would look like:

and here is what the result would look like:

I've am able to search for and highlight single text values just find, I just cannot figure out how to search for a list of values all at once though. I actual list of items that I would be search for amounts to a couple hundred values, so manually search for individual strings of text would take forever. Any help is much appreciated, thanks!

Answer 1

If the column E values are in E1:E7 then try selecting column A and applying this formula within conditional formatting (use the "use a formula to determine which cells to format" option)

=MATCH(A1,E$1:E$7,0)

Set format or fill as required > OK