(Excel) Conditional Formatting based on Adjacent Cell Value

Question

I\'m trying to apply conditional formatting in Excel on a range of cells, based on the adjacent cell\'s value, to achieve something like this:

Answer 1

You need to take out the $ signs before the row numbers in the formula....and the row number used in the formula should correspond to the first row of data, so if you are applying this to the ("applies to") range $B$2:$B$5 it must be this formula

=$B2>$C2

by using that "relative" version rather than your "absolute" one Excel (implicitly) adjusts the formula for each row in the range, as if you were copying the formula down

Answer 2

I don't know if maybe it's a difference in Excel version but this question is 6 years old and the accepted answer didn't help me so this is what I figured out:

Under Conditional Formatting > Manage Rules:

1. Make a new rule with "Use a formula to determine which cells to format"
2. Make your rule, but put a dollar sign only in front of the letter: $A2<$B2
3. Under "Applies to", Manually select the second column (It would not work for me if I changed the value in the box, it just kept snapping back to what was already there), so it looks like $B$2:$B$100 (assuming you have 100 rows)

This worked for me in Excel 2016.