Highlighting Cells Containing Specific Functions in Google Sheets

Are you tired of manually searching for cells containing specific functions in your Google Sheets? Highlighting them can make your work much easier and streamlined. In this article, we will explore how to highlight cells containing specific functions in Google Sheets using conditional formatting. So let’s get started!

Highlighting Cells Containing a Specific Function in Google Sheets

Google Sheets allows us to use operators for building formulas. To begin highlighting cells containing specific functions, we need to understand the structure of these functions. For example, an addition formula in Google Sheets consists of an equal sign followed by two or more numbers separated by a plus sign.

To highlight cells containing such formulas, we can use a custom rule in Google Sheets’ conditional formatting feature.

Highlight Cells Containing Operator Based Formulas in Google Sheets

Here’s an example of a custom rule to highlight cells containing addition formulas:

=regexmatch(FORMULATEXT(A1),"+")

By selecting the desired range and applying this custom rule, we can easily highlight all cells containing the specific function, in this case, addition.

Understand the Custom Rule

The custom rule we used consists of two parts:

  • Text: The FORMULATEXT function returns the formula from any cell as text.
  • Regular_Expression: This part specifies the function or operator we want to highlight. In our case, it’s the plus operator.

Note that only cells with actual formulas will be highlighted. Text strings that contain the plus operator will not be highlighted.

Similarly, you can use the same approach to highlight cells containing subtraction or division operators. Just modify the operator in the formula rule accordingly.

Highlight SUMIF Function Cells in Google Sheets

If you want to highlight cells containing a specific function, such as SUMIF, you can use a modified version of the custom rule we discussed earlier.

Here’s a conditional format rule to highlight cells that contain the SUMIF function in Google Sheets:

=regexmatch(FORMULATEXT(A1),"(?i)sumif")

This rule will highlight the cells that contain the SUMIF function in a case-insensitive manner. Whether you type the function in uppercase, lowercase, or proper case letters, the custom rule will still highlight those cells.

Highlight Cells that Contain Any Chosen Function in Google Sheets

If you need to highlight cells containing any chosen function, such as VLOOKUP, you can use a similar approach. Just replace the string in the expression, which is vlookup in this case, with the desired function name.

Here’s a sample rule to highlight cells containing the VLOOKUP function:

=regexmatch(FORMULATEXT(A1),"(?i)vlookup")

Feel free to replace vlookup with any other function name you want to highlight.

In conclusion, highlighting cells containing specific functions in Google Sheets can save you time and effort when working with complex spreadsheets. Utilizing Google Sheets’ conditional formatting feature and custom rules allows you to visually identify and focus on cells that contain the functions you’re interested in.

For more useful tips and tricks on Google Sheets, visit Crawlan.com. Happy highlighting!

You May Like:

  • How to Highlight Vlookup Result Value in Google Sheets.
  • Highlight Intersecting Value in Google Sheets in a Two-Way Lookup.

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