Compare two columns and highlight differences
A conditional formatting formula highlights values that only exist in one column. Example, BB and GG exist only in column B.
How to highlight values
- Select cell range B3:B7
- Go to tab "Home" on the ribbon if you are not there already
- Click on Conditional Formatting button
- Click on "New Rule..."
- Click on "Use a formula to determine which cells to format"
- Type: =AND($D$3:$D$7<>B3)
- Click on "Format..." button
- Click on "Fill" tab.
- Pick a color
- Click OK
- Click OK
Repeat above steps with column D, the formula is =AND($B$3:$B$7<>D3)
Explaining conditional formatting formula
AND($D$3:$D$7<>B3)
The less than and greater than signs combined means not equal to. The value in cell B3 is compared to values in cell range $D$3:$D$7.
$D$3:$D$7<>B3 is the same as $D$3<>B3, $D$4<>B3, $D$5<>B3, $D$6<>B3 and $D$7<>B3.
The logical expression returns this array {TRUE; TRUE; TRUE; TRUE; TRUE}.
AND($D$3:$D$7<>B3) becomes AND({TRUE; TRUE; TRUE; TRUE; TRUE}) and returns TRUE. Cell B3 is highlighted.
Download Excel *.xlsx
Compare two columns and highlight differences.xlsx
Weekly Blog EMAIL
Welcome! I am Oscar and here to help you out.Feel free to comment and ask Excel questions.
Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter so you don't miss new blog articles.
Related articles
Compare two columns and highlight values in common
A conditional formatting formula highlights values in column B that also exist in column D. =COUNTIF($D$3:$D$7,B3) The same thing happens […]
Highlight missing values between to columns
The picture above shows two lists. How do I highlight values in List 1 that are not in List 2? […]
How to highlight differences in price lists
Today I am going to show you how to quickly compare two tables using Conditional Formatting (CF). I am going […]
Compare two lists of data: Highlight common records
In this blog post I will demonstrate a conditional formatting formula that will highlight common records in two lists. The […]
Compare tables: Highlight records not in both tables
The image above demonstrates a conditional formatting formula that highlights records that only exist in one table. There are two […]
Highlight overlapping date ranges using conditional formatting
The image above demonstrates a conditional formatting formula that colors a record if there is at least one record that […]
Count Conditionally Formatted cells
This article explains how to count cells highlighted with Conditional Formatting (CF). The image above shows data in cell range […]
Highlight records based on overlapping date ranges and a condition
adam asks: Hi, I have a situation where I want to count if this value is duplicate and if it […]
Highlight dates in a date range
Question: How do I highlight dates that meet criteria using conditional formatting? Table of contents Highlight values in a column […]
This post demonstrates how to highlight records with the closest value to a criterion, you can also choose to highlight […]
Leave a Reply
How to comment
How to add a formula to your comment
<code>Insert your formula here.</code>
Convert less than and larger than signs
Use html character entities instead of less than and larger than signs.
< becomes < and > becomes >
How to add VBA code to your comment
[vb 1="vbnet" language=","]
Put your VBA code here.
[/vb]
How to add a picture to your comment:
Upload picture to postimage.org or imgur
Paste image link to your comment.
