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MS Excel 2003: Change the font color based on the value in the cell

This Excel tutorial explains how to use conditional formatting to change the font color based on the value of a cell in Excel 2003 and older versions (with screenshots and step-by-step instructions).

Question: In Microsoft Excel 2003/XP/2000/97, I'm putting the sum of 3 cells in a 4th cell. If the sum is greater than 10, I would like the sum to be the color red. If the sum is less than 10, I would like the sum to be the color blue. If the sum equals 10, I want the font color to be black. Is this possible?

Answer: If you wish to change the color of the font based on the value in a cell, you will need to apply conditional formatting.

To do this, select the cell that you wish to apply the formatting to. In this example, we've selected cell B8.

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Under the Format menu, select Conditional Formatting.

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When the Conditional Formatting window appears, enter the first condition. In our example, we've selected when the cell value is greater than 10.

Next, we need to select what formatting to apply when this condition is met. To do this, click on the Format button.

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When the Format Cells window appears, select the formatting conditions that you wish to apply. We've changed the Color to Red. Then click on the OK button.

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If you wish to apply more than one condition, you will need to click on the Add button.

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We've added three different conditions. When you're done, click on the OK button.

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Now when you return to the spreadsheet, the conditional formatting will be applied. As you can see, the value in cell B8 appears in red.

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