How to Highlight Active Cell in Excel with Conditional Formatting
In Excel, highlighting the active cell is a useful feature that can help users quickly identify and focus on the current cell they are working on. By using conditional formatting, you can customize the appearance of the active cell to make it stand out from the rest of the cells in the worksheet. This article will guide you through the steps to highlight the active cell in Excel using conditional formatting.
Firstly, you need to open your Excel worksheet and select the cell that you want to be the active cell. Once you have selected the cell, go to the “Home” tab in the ribbon at the top of the Excel window. Here, you will find the “Conditional Formatting” button in the “Styles” group.
Step 1: Accessing Conditional Formatting
Click on the “Conditional Formatting” button, and a dropdown menu will appear. From the dropdown menu, select “New Rule” to create a new formatting rule.
Step 2: Creating a New Formatting Rule
A dialog box titled “New Formatting Rule” will appear. In this dialog box, you have several options to choose from. For our purpose, select “Use a formula to determine which cells to format” from the dropdown menu under “Select a rule type.”
Step 3: Entering the Formula
After selecting the rule type, a formula field will appear. In this field, you need to enter a formula that identifies the active cell. The formula to use is as follows:
“`excel
=$A$1
“`
Replace `$A$1` with the cell reference of the active cell you want to highlight. This formula checks if the cell is equal to the active cell reference.
Step 4: Applying the Formatting
Next, click on the “Format” button to open the “Format Cells” dialog box. In this dialog box, you can customize the appearance of the active cell. For example, you can change the font color, background color, or add borders. Once you have set the desired formatting, click “OK” to close the dialog box.
Step 5: Saving the Rule
Back in the “New Formatting Rule” dialog box, click “OK” to save the rule. The active cell will now be highlighted according to the formatting you specified.
Step 6: Testing the Formatting
To test the formatting, select a different cell in the worksheet. The previously selected active cell should no longer be highlighted. Now, click on the cell you want to be the new active cell, and it should be highlighted according to the formatting rule you created.
By following these steps, you can easily highlight the active cell in Excel using conditional formatting. This feature can greatly improve your productivity and make it easier to navigate through your worksheet.
