Skip to content
Free Excel Tutorials
  • Home
  • Excel For Beginners
  • Excel Intermediate
  • Advanced Excel For Experts

Data Analysis

  • How to calculate average last N values in a table in Excel
  • Filter Data Based on Date in Excel
  • How To Remove Duplicates In Excel Column Or Row?
  • How to create a Histogram in Excel
  • Move chart to a separate worksheet in Excel

References

  • How to get relative column numbers in a range in Excel
  • How to get address of named range in Excel
  • LOOKUP function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • How to use Excel ROW Function
  • Find Closest Match in Excel Using INDEX, MATCH, ABS and MIN functions

Data Validations

  • Excel Data validation only dates between
  • Excel Data validation with conditional list
  • Excel Data validation allow weekday only
  • Excel Data validation date in next 30 days
  • Excel Data validation require unique number

Highlight approximate match lookup conditional formatting in Excel

by

This tutorial shows how to Highlight approximate match lookup conditional formatting in Excel using the example below;

Formula

=OR($B5=LOOKUP(width,widths),B$5=LOOKUP(height,heights))

Explanation

To highlight rows and columns associated with an approximate match, you can use conditional formatting with a formula based on the LOOKUP function together with with a logical function like OR or AND. In the example shown, the formula used to apply conditional formatting is:

=OR($B5=LOOKUP(width,widths),B$5=LOOKUP(height,heights))

How this formula works

This formula uses 4 named ranges, defined as follows:

width=K6
height=K7
widths=B6:B11
heights=C5:H5

Conditional formatting is evaluated relative to every cell it is applied to, starting with the active cell in the selection, which is cell B5 in this case. To highlight the matching row, we use this logical expression:

$B5=LOOKUP(width,widths)

The reference to B5 is mixed, with the column locked and row unlocked, so that only values in column B (widths) are compared to the value in K6 (width). In the example shown, this logical expression will return TRUE for every cell in a row where width is 200, based on an approximate match of the value in K6 (width, 275) against all values in K6:B11 (widths). This is done with LOOKUP function:

LOOKUP(width,widths)

Like the MATCH function, LOOKUP will run through sorted values until a greater value is found, then “step back” to the previous value, which is 200 in this case.

To highlight the matching column, we use this logical expression:

B$5=LOOKUP(height,heights)

The reference to B5 is mixed, with the column relative and row absolute, so that only values in row 5 (heights) are compared to the value in K7 (height). In the example shown, this logical expression will return TRUE for every cell in a row where height is 300, based on an approximate match of the value in K7 (height, 325) against all values in C5:H5 (heights). This is done with LOOKUP function:

LOOKUP(height,heights)

As above, LOOKUP will run through sorted values until a greater value is found, then “step back” to the previous value, which is 300 in this case.

Highlight intersection only

To highlight the intersection only, just replace the OR function with the AND function:

=AND($B5=LOOKUP(width,widths),B$5=LOOKUP(height,heights))

Post navigation

Previous Post:

COSH function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation

Next Post:

Excel Data validation require unique number

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn Basic Excel

Ribbon
Workbook
Worksheets
Format Cells
Find & Select
Sort & Filter
Templates
Print
Share
Protect
Keyboard Shortcuts

Categories

  • Charts
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Validation
  • Excel Functions
    • Cube Functions
    • Database Functions
    • Date and Time Functions
    • Engineering Functions
    • Financial Functions
    • Information Functions
    • Logical Functions
    • Lookup and Reference Functions
    • Math and Trig Functions
    • Statistical Functions
    • Text Functions
    • Web Functions
  • Excel VBA
  • Excel Video Tutorials
  • Formatting
  • Grouping
  • Others

Logical Functions

  • Not Equal To ‘<>‘ operator in Excel
  • Invoice status with nested if in Excel
  • TRUE function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • IF, AND, OR and NOT Functions Examples in Excel
  • Extract multiple matches into separate rows in Excel

Date Time

  • Convert Unix time stamp to Excel date
  • Convert date string to date time in Excel
  • How to calculate nth day of week in month in Excel
  • Calculate retirement date in Excel
  • Get date from day number in Excel

Grouping

  • How to randomly assign people to groups in Excel
  • Map inputs to arbitrary values in Excel
  • Group numbers at uneven intervals in Excel
  • Categorize text with keywords in Excel
  • Map text to numbers in Excel

General

  • How to generate random date between two dates in Excel
  • Select, Insert, Rename, Move, Delete Worksheets in Excel
  • How to fill cell ranges with random number from fixed set of options in Excel
  • How to calculate percent variance in Excel
  • How to get original number from percent change in Excel
© 2025 xlsoffice . All Right Reserved. | Teal Smiles | Abbreviations And Their Meaning