Category: Cloud Software

When you’re working with data in a spreadsheet, there are often duplicate values that need to be considered. This tutorial will show you how to highlight the repeated items in a few easy steps.

First, highlight the column or row that you want to evaluate.

Click Format in the top menu then Conditional formatting…

The Conditional Formatting menu option will pop up a Conditional format rules menu on the right side of the screen (on the desktop version of Sheets).

Click the plus sign to begin adding the rule. In the drop-down menu for Format cells if choose the last option which is Custom formula is.

Last menu option is custom formula

In the box that appears below Custom formula is enter =COUNTIF(A:A,A1)>1. Note that you have to start the formula with a = sign just like any other spreadsheet formula. If you were highlighting a row instead of a column, specify the row as 1:1 if the row were the 1st row. If you are not familiar with COUNTIF, learn how to use it here.

This will start at A1 and check to see if the value in A1 occurs more than once in the selected range. Then, the conditional formatting goes to the next cell, A2, and so on, until it gets to the end of your specified range. Now, all of the duplicates in your list are highlighted.

The A:A may seem a little strange but this is a method of specifying an entire column no matter how many rows are used.

Result with highlights duplicated

Video explanation

Using Google Sheets for conditional formatting based on a range’s own values is simple. Formatting based on another range of cells’ values is a bit more involved. Following are step-by-step instructions to format a range of cells using values in another range of cells.

What is conditional formatting

Conditional formatting is used to highlight to the reader of the spreadsheet certain values that meet certain criteria. It can be used to show items over/under a certain amount, later/earlier than a certain date, or only the widgets sold by Joan.

Video explanation

Conditional formatting based on another cell

Our objective in this example is to highlight all of the dates on which Joan had a sale.

Select the range that you want to have highlighted. Even though you are going to be referencing another range of cells, you still only need to select the range that you are going to be formatting. In this example, we’ll be highlighting the date column.

Click Format in the top menu then Conditional formatting…

The Conditional Formatting menu option will pop up a Conditional format rules menu on the right side of the screen (on the desktop version of Sheets).

Click the plus sign to begin adding the rule. In the drop-down menu for Format cells if choose the last option which is Custom formula is.

In the box that appears below Custom formula is enter =B1="Joan". Note that you have to start the formula with a = sign just like any other spreadsheet formula. Also, note that you need to surround the word Joan with “s since it is a word instead of a number.

Now you have the sales data with dates highlighted on which Joan made sales.

Extending to the entire row

If you want to highlight the entire row based on the value of one cell, continue reading here.

The Problem

Yahoo Mail does not let you view attachments and print them like other email programs without saving them first. In order to view attachments full screen and print them, you are forced to save them onto your computer and then open them. This creates extra steps and leaves the clutter of all of your past attachments in your computer’s file system

Description

The files are shown as colored square icons at the bottom of your email message. If you hover your mouse over the icon, you get the option to download the file. Click on the white letters that say download at the bottom of the icon.

Video explanation

The next step is where the trouble starts. Instead of the document showing when you click on it or giving you the option to open it, you only have the option to save or cancel. This is assuming that you are using Google Chrome. The Edge browser may show slight variances in these two options but it still won’t let you open the file.

Why it happens

The reason this is happening is because of the browser that you are using. Google’s Chrome and Microsoft’s Edge browser do not have the option to open files without saving them first. However, both Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers do let you open files. First, we will look at Internet Explorer.

Solution 1

The easiest solution is to use Internet Explorer. This program should already be installed on almost any Windows computer. You can find it on Windows 10 by going to all programs, Windows Accessories, Internet Explorer.

Next, open up Internet Explorer and click on the colored rectangle icon to view your attachment. Now you get the option to OPEN it. Viola! If you open it, you can view and print it without saving.

Solution 2

For a more secure solution, you can download the Firefox browser which will give you an up-to-date browser that has constant security and feature updates. Firefox is developed and maintained by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation.