Questions on using conditional formatting

[nathanwst]

I've got a spreadsheet that that has multiple colums of numbers. In each
colum I want to change the color of the cell based on the previous cell
number for example.
If A2 > A1 i want the text to be green. If A2 < A1 the text should be red,
and if A2 = A1 the text is black.

I've been able to accomplish this, but is there an easy way to format the
whole spreadsheet quickly, or will I have to do each cell one by one?

 

[Dave Peterson]

If you select the range first (like A2:X9999), then do format|conditional
formatting, you can write the formula using references for the activecell (a2).

 

[JBeaucaire]

1) Highlight the range of cells from A2:A1000 (or however far down you need
to go...resist the urge to select the whole column). Make sure A2 is the
primary highlighted cell.

2) Open Cond. Formatting and enter this formula:
Condition1: Formula Is: =$A2<$A1
Format... Font color: RED

Condition2: Formula Is: =$A2>$A1
Format... Font color: GREEN

3) Format the regular font color as BLACK

By making sure there are no $ symbols in front of the row numbers, they will
adjust themselves relatively down the entire highlighted range.