Colours in excel formulas

You can use a formula in conjunction with an Event Macro. Pick a cell, say B2 and enter the formula:

=IF(A1>10,"black","green")

Then format B2 Custom ;;;
This will hide the displayed text.
Then place the following event macro in the worksheet code area:

Private Sub Worksheet_Calculate()
Application.EnableEvents = False
    With Range("B2")
        If .Value = "green" Then
            .Interior.Color = RGB(0, 255, 0)
        Else
            .Interior.Color = RGB(0, 0, 0)
        End If
    End With
Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

The macro will run every time the worksheet is re-calculated. It will exame the text in B2 (even though the text is not visible) and adjust the backgound color accordingly.

Because it is worksheet code, it is very easy to install and automatic to use:

1. right-click the tab name near the bottom of the Excel window
2. select View Code — this brings up a VBE window
3. paste the stuff in and close the VBE window

If you have any concerns, first try it on a trial worksheet.

If you save the workbook, the macro will be saved with it.
If you are using a version of Excel later then 2003, you must save
the file as .xlsm rather than .xlsx

To remove the macro:

1. bring up the VBE windows as above
2. clear the code out
3. close the VBE window

To learn more about macros in general, see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

and

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee814735(v=office.14).aspx

To learn more about Event Macros (worksheet code), see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/event.htm

Macros must be enabled for this to work!

Let’s say that one of our tasks is to entering of the information about: did the ordering to a customer in the current month. Then on the basis of the information you need to select the cell in color according to the condition: which from customers have not made any orders for the past 3 months. For these customers you will need to re-send the offer.

Of course it’s the task for Excel. The program should automatically find such counterparties and, accordingly, to color ones. For these conditions we will use to the conditional formatting.



The filling cells with dates automatically

At first, you need to prepare to the structure for filling the register. First of all, let’s consider to the ready example of the automated register, which is depicted in the picture below. Today date 07.07.2018:

The user to need only to specify, if the customer have made an order in the current month, in the corresponding cell you should enter the text value of «order». The main condition for the allocation: if for 3 months the contractor did not make any order, his number is automatically highlighted in red.

Presented this decision should automate some work processes and to simplify to the visual data analysis.

The automatic filling of the cells with the relevant dates

At first, for the register with numbers of customers we will create to the column headers with green and up to date for months that will automatically display to the periods of time. To do this, in the cell B1 you need to enter the following formula:

How does the formula work for automatically generating of the outgoing months?

In the picture, the formula returns the period of time passing since the date of writing this article: 17.09.2017. In the first argument in the function DATE is the nested formula that always returns the current year to today’s date thanks to the functions: YEAR and TODAY. In the second argument is the month number (-1). The negative number means that we are interested in what it was a month last time. The example of the conditions for the second argument with the value:

• 1 means the first month (January) in the year that is specified in the first argument;
• 0 – it is 1 month ago;
• -1 – there is 2 months ago from the beginning of the current year (i.e. 01.10.2016).

The last argument-is the day number of the month, which is specified in the second argument. As a result, the DATE function collects all parameters into a single value and the formula returns to the corresponding date.

Next, go to the cell C1 and type the following formula:

As you can see now the DATE function uses the value from the cell B1 and increases to the month number by 1 in relation to the previous cell. As the result is the 1 – the number of the following month.

Now you need to copy this formula from the cell C1 in the rest of the column headings in the range D1:AY1.

To highlight to the cell range B1:AY1 and select to the tool: «HOME»-«Cells»-«Format Cells» or just to press CTRL+1. In the dialog box that appears, in the tab «Number» in the section «Category» you need to select the option «Custom». In the «Type:» to enter the value: MMM. YY (required the letters in upper register). Because of this, we will get to the cropped display of the date values in the headers of the register, what simplifies to the visual analysis and make it more comfortable due to better readability.

Please note! At the onset of the month of January (D1), the formula automatically changes in the date to the year in the next one.



How to select the column by color in Excel under the terms

Now you need to highlight to the cell by color which respect of the current month. Because of this, we can easily find the column in which you need to enter the actual data for this month. To do this:

1. To select the range of the cells B2:AY15 and select the tool: «HOME» -«Styles» -«Conditional Formatting»-«New Rule». And in the appeared window «New Formatting Rule» you need to select the option: «Use a formula to determine which cells to format»



2. In the input field to enter the formula:



3. Click «Format» and indicate on the tab «Fill» in what color (for example green) will be the selected cells of the current month. Then on all Windows for confirmation to click «OK».

The column under the appropriate heading of the register is automatically highlighted in green accordingly to our terms and conditions:

How does the formula highlight of the column color on a condition work?

Due to the fact that before the creation of the conditional formatting rule we have covered all the table data for inputting data of register, the formatting will be active for each cell in the range B2:AY15. The mixed reference in the formula B$1 (absolute address only for rows, but for columns it is relative) determines that the formula will always to refer to the first row of each column.

Automatic highlighting of the column in the condition of the current month

The main condition for the fill by color of the cells: if the range B1:AY1 is the same date that the first day of the current month, then the cells in a column change its colors by specified in conditional formatting.

Please note! In this formula, for the last argument of the function DATE is shown 1, in the same way as for formulas in determining the dates for the column headings of the register.

In our case, is the green filling of the cells. If we open our register in next month, that it has the corresponding column is highlighted in green regardless of the current day.

The table is formatted, now we are filling it with the text value of the «order» in a mixed order of clients for current and past months.

How to highlight the cells in red color according to the condition

Now we need to highlight in red to the cells with the numbers of clients who for 3 months have not made any order. To do this:

1. Select the range of the cells A2:A15 (that is, the list of the customer numbers) and select to the tool: «HOME»-«Styles»-«Conditional formatting»-«Create rule». And in the window that appeared «Create a formatting rule» to select the option: «Use the formula for determining which cells to format».
2. This time in the input box to enter the formula:



3. To click «Format» and specify the red color on the tab «Fill». Then on all Windows click «OK».
4. Fill the cells with the text value of «order» as in the picture and look at the result:

The numbers of customers are highlighted in red, if in the row has no have the value «order» in the last three cells for the current month (inclusively).

The analysis of the formula for the highlighting of cells according to the condition

Firstly, we will do by the middle part of our formula. The SHIFT function returns a range reference shifted relative to the basic range of the certain number of rows and columns. The returned reference can be a single cell or a range of cells. Optionally, you can define to the number of returned rows and columns. In our example, the function returns the reference to the cell range for the last 3 months.

The important part for our terms of highlighting in color – is belong to the first argument of the SHIFT function. It determines from which month to start the offset. In this example, there is the cell D2, that is, the beginning of the year – January. Of course for the rest of the cells in the column the row number for the base of the cell will correspond to the line number in what it is located. The following 2 arguments of the SHIFT function to determine how many rows and columns should be done offset. Since the calculations for each customer will carry in the same line, the offset value for the rows we specified is -0.

At the same time for the calculating the value of the third argument (the offset by the columns) we use to the nested formula MONTH(TODAY()), which in accordance with the terms returns to the number of the current month in the current year. From the calculated formula of the month as a number subtract the number 4, that is, in cases November we get the offset by 8 columns. And, for example, for June – there are on 2 columns only.

The last two arguments for the SHIFT function, determine the height (in the number of rows) and width (in the number of columns) of the returned range. In our example, there is the area of the cell with height on 1 row and with width on 4 columns. This range covers to the columns of 3 previous months and the current month.

The first function in the COUNTIF formula checks the condition: how many times in the returned range using the SHIFT function, we can found to the text value «order». If the function returns the value of 0, it means from the client with this number for 3 months there was not any order. And in accordance with our terms and conditions, the cell with number of this client is shown in red fill color.

If we want to register to data for customers, Excel is ideally suited for this purpose. You can easily record in the appropriate categories to the number of ordered goods, as well as the date of implementation of transaction. The problem gradually starts with arising of the data growth.

Download example automatic highlight cells by color.

If so many of them that we need to spend a few minutes looking for a specific position of the register and analysis of the information entered. In this case, it is necessary to add in the table to the register of mechanisms to automate some workflows of the user. And so we did.

Excel has some really amazing functions, but it doesn’t have a function that can sum cell values based on the cell color.

For example, I have the dataset as shown below, and I want to get the sum of all orange and yellow color cells.

Unfortunately, there is no in-built function to do this.

But never say never!

In this tutorial, I will show you three simple techniques you can use to sum by color in Excel.

Let’s dive in!

SUM Cells by Color Using Filter and SUBTOTAL

Let’s start with the easiest one.

Below I have a dataset where I have the employee names and their sales numbers.

And in this dataset, I want to get the sum of all the cells colored in yellow and orange.

While there is no in-built function in Excel to sum values based on cell color, there is a simple workaround that relies on the fact that you can filter cells based on the cell color.

For this method, enter the below formula in cell B17 (or any cell in the same column below the colored cells dataset).

=SUBTOTAL(9,B2:B15)

In the above SUBTOTAL formula, I have used 9 as the first argument, which tells the function that I want to get the sum of the range that is given as the second argument.

But why not just use the SUM formula instead?

This is because when I have the SUBTOTAL formula and I filter the cells to only show those cells that have a specific color in it, the SUBTOTAL formula will show me the sum of visible cells only (something that the SUM formula can not do).

So once you have the SUBTOTAL formula, follow the below steps to get the SUM based on cell color:

1. Select any cell in the dataset
2. Click the Data tab

1. In the Sort and Filter group, click on the Filter icon. This will apply filter to the dataset and you will be able to see the filter icon in the headers

1. In the Sales header cell, click on the Filter icon

1. Go to the Filter by Color” option
2. Select the color based on which you want to filter the dataset.

As soon as you do this, you will notice that the subtotal result changes and it will now only give you the sum of those cells that are visible (which would only be those cells that have the color by which you filtered the dataset).

Similarly, if you filter by some other color in the data set (say orange instead of yellow), the SUBTOTAL function would accordingly adjust and give you the sum of all cells with orange color

Pro Tip: Keyboard shortcut to apply a filter to a dataset is Control + Shift + L (hold the Control and the Shift key, and then press the L key). If using Mac, use Command + Shift + L

SUM Cells by Color Using VBA

I mentioned that there is no inbuilt formula in Excel to sum based on cell color value. However, you can create your own formula to do this using VBA.

With VBA, you can create a custom function that you can keep in the back end, and then use it like any other regular function in the worksheet.

Below is the VBA code that will create that custom function that allows you to sum by color in Excel.

'Code created by Sumit Bansal from https://trumpexcel.com/
'This VBA code created a function that can be used to sum cells based on color
Function SumByColor(SumRange As Range, SumColor As Range)
Dim SumColorValue As Integer
Dim TotalSum As Long
SumColorValue = SumColor.Interior.ColorIndex
Set rCell = SumRange
For Each rCell In SumRange
If rCell.Interior.ColorIndex = SumColorValue Then
TotalSum = TotalSum + rCell.Value
End If
Next rCell
SumByColor = TotalSum
End Function

To use this VBA custom function, you will first have to copy this code and paste it in the back end in the VB editor.

Once done, you’ll be able to use this function in the worksheet.

Below are the steps to add this code to the VB editor.

1. Click the Developer tab in the ribbon (if you don’t have the Developer tab visible, click here to learn how to get it)
2. Click on the Visual Basic icon. This will open the Visual Basic editor of Excel.

1. Click the Insert option in the menu
2. Click on Module. This will insert a new module and you will be able to see it in the project explorer (a pane on the left that shows all the objects). If you don’t see the Project Explorer pane, click on View and then click on Project Explorer

1. Copy the above VBA code and paste it in the newly inserted Module code window

1. Close the VB Editor

Now that you have the code in the back end in excel, you will be able to use the function that we created (SumByColor) in the worksheet.

For this function to work, I will need a cell in the worksheet that contains the same color for which I want to get the sum.

In our example, I have done that to cells D2 and D3, where D2 has the yellow color and D3 has the orange color.

Now I can use the below formula in these cells:

=SumByColor($B$2:$B$15,D2)

The above formula takes two arguments:

• The range of cells that have the color that I want to add
• Reference to any cell that contains the color (so that the formula can pick the color index and use that as a condition to add the values)

Note that the formula is dynamic and would automatically update in case you make any changes to the data set (such as changing any value or applying/removing color from some cells). And in case you notice that the formula is not updating, hit the F9 key and it would update.

Since we have used a VBA code in the workbook, it needs to be saved as a macro-enabled workbook (with .XLSM extension).

Pro Tip: If adding cells based on their background color is something you need to do quite often, I recommend you copy and paste this VBA code for the custom formula in the Personal Macro Workbook. This way, that would be available on all your workbooks on your system.

Also read: Filter By Color in Excel

SUM Cells by Color Using GET.CELL

The final method I want to show you include a hidden Excel formula (that not many people know about).

This method uses the GET.CELL function, which can get us the color index value of colored cells.

And once we have the color index value of each cell, we can then use a simple sum if formula to only get the sum of cells with a specific color in it.

It’s not as elegant as the VBA custom function I covered earlier, but if you don’t want to use VBA, then this could be the way to go for you.

GET.CELL is an old Macro 4 function that has been kept in Excel for compatibility reasons, but you won’t find many details about it (as it’s rarely used).

Below I have a dataset where I have colored cells that I want to sum.

For this technique to work, we first need to create a named range that will use the GET.CELL function to give the color value of a colored cell.

Here are the steps to do this:

1. Click the Formulas tab in the Ribbon
2. In the Defined Names group, click on the ‘Name Manager’

1. In the Name Manager dialog box, click on New

1. In the ‘New Name dialog box, enter the Name – SumColor

1. In the Refers to field, enter the following formula: =GET.CELL(38,$B2)

1. Click OK
2. Close the Name Manager dialog box

The above steps have created a named range that we can now use in the workbook.

Note: GET.CELL function takes two arguments, the first one is a number that tells the function what information we need, and the second is the cell reference of that cell itself. In this case, I have 38 as the first argument, which would give us the color index value of the referred cell.

Now the second step is to get the color index values of all the colors in column B.

Below are the steps to do this:

1. In cell C1, enter the header – Color Index (or anything that you to call it)

1. In cell C2, enter the following formula: =SumColor

1. Apply the same formula for all the cell in column C (you can use the fill handle or simply copy paste cell C2)

The above steps would give you a value that would represent the color index of the cell in column B (the cell on the left).

SumColor is the named range we created and it uses the GET.CELL function to get the color index value of the cell on the left. You can use this formula in any column, but it should always start from the second cell in that column. For example, instead of column C, you can have this in column H or J, but from the second cells in these columns.

Now that we have a unique number for each color, we can use this to get the SUM of cells based on their color.

Below are the steps to do this:

1. In cell E2 and E3, give the cells the color for which you want to get the sum. In my case, I have yellow color in cell E2 and orange in cell E3

1. In cell F2, enter the following formula: =SUMIF(C2:C15,SumColor,B2:B15)

1. Copy the cell and paste in cell F3 (this could copy the formula as well and adjust the references).

The above steps would give you the sum of all the cells that have the color in the adjacent selling column F.

We have used a SUMIF formula, where it adds all the values in column B, if the color index of the cell on the left (in column F) is the same as that in column C.

While this is definitely a slightly longer way to sum cells by color (as compared with SUBTOTAL or VBA), this gets the work done, and you only need to do this setup once.

Note that while the formula is dynamic, in case you make any changes (such as changing the color cells in column B or removing the color from it), the change might not be reflected instantly in the SUMIF formula. A simple workaround for it would be to go to the cell that has the formula, click the F2 key to get into the airport, and then hit the enter key. This would force the formula to recalculate and you will get the updated result.

So these are three methods you can use to sum by color in Excel. While SUBTOTAL is quite easy and straightforward, I personally like the VBA method better.

I hope you found this tutorial useful!

Other Excel tutorials you may also like:

• Count Characters in a Cell (or Range of Cells) Using Formulas in Excel
• How to Count Colored Cells in Excel
• How to Sort By Color in Excel (in less than 10 seconds)
• How to Apply Formula to Entire Column in Excel
• How to Sum Only Positive or Negative Numbers in Excel (Easy Formula)
• How to SUM values between two dates (using SUMIFS formula)
• How to Combine Duplicate Rows and Sum the Values in Excel
• How to Sum Across Multiple Sheets in Excel? (3D SUM Formula)

1. Column
2. TECHNOLOGY Q&A

|January 13, 2016||Filters, SUBTOTAL

If you need to compute the total for certain cells based on their font or fill color, you may have noticed that Excel formulas operate on stored values, not displayed values. That means that functions such as SUM and SUMIFS operate on the underlying cell values and disregard cell formatting, such as font or fill color. This post provides three steps to workaround this issue and compute a total based on fill color.

Objective

Before we get too far, let’s have a look at what we are trying to accomplish.

We have a range of data and selected transactions have been highlighted with a cell fill color, as shown below.

We’ll want to be able to highlight additional rows any time, and we don’t want to rewrite or update our formula when we do. That means our formula range needs to include the amount column and we are precluded from using a formula that picks and chooses each cell (like E10+E12+E15…).

When we try to write a formula that adds up the amount column but includes only the highlighted transactions, we get stuck. Regardless of which summing function we use, we can’t seem to tell Excel to include only the highlighted cells. This is because formulas operate on the underlying stored values and disregard the cell formatting.

So, can we do this? Yes, we can, no worries.

How To

We can accomplish our objective with the help of two Excel items, namely, a filter and a SUBTOTAL function.

Step 1: The filter. We can filter by font or fill color using the built-in filter feature of Excel. To turn on filters, simply select any cell within the data range and then the following Ribbon icon:

• Data > Filter

This will turn on little filter controls, or drop-downs, in the header row. These are shown below.

With them, we can filter by fill color. Simply pull one down, and then select Filter by Color. A slide-out menu will appear showing the colors used within the data region. When you pick a color, Excel will show those rows and hide the others, as demonstrated below.

Once we have the filter working, we are just about done. All we need to do is write a formula that includes only the visible rows.

Step 2: The blank row. Since we always want our total row to be visible, we don’t want it included within the filter range. To prevent Excel from hiding the total row when applying a filter, we want to skip a row before writing the formula. So, we won’t write our formula in the row immediately under the data range, we’ll leave a blank row in between the last data row and the formula row.

Step 3: SUBTOTAL.  Excel has several functions that can add stuff up. To accomplish our objective, we can’t use a standard SUM function because it includes both visible and hidden rows. The SUBTOTAL function on the other hand, includes only visible rows within a filtered region. The trick to using the SUBTOTAL function is to set the first argument to either 9 or 109. Either would work in this case because we want to sum the results and we are using a filter to hide the rows. If our amount column was stored in the range E8:E19, then we would use the following formula in our total row:

=SUBTOTAL(9, E8:E19)

This is pictured below.

Connecting the dots then…we know we can use the filter to show only the highlighted transactions, we know the blank row between the last data row and the formula will help ensure that our total row is excluded from the filter, and we know the SUBTOTAL function will include only the visible rows within the filtered region. So, will this work? Let’s find out…

Yes, it worked! The total updates from 7,560 (all rows) to 2,377 (highlighted rows)…we have computed a total based on fill color just like we wanted!

If you have any other fun techniques for summing by color, or other suggested uses for filters, please share by posting a comment below…thanks!

Notes

• Download the Excel file: SumByColor
• This technique works if the data is stored in a table as well. Instead of writing the SUBTOTAL formula manually, Excel will add it automatically when we check the Total Row checkbox on the TableTools ribbon tab. Plus, the filter controls will automatically be included in the table’s header row.
• If your total row is being included the the filter (and thus hidden) be sure you have a blank row between the last data row and the formula row and then turn off filters (Data > Filter) and then back on again (Data > Filter).