Conditional formatting an empty row when under a row with text

[Milos]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a large list of thousands of rows down by about 10 columns wide. I am just wanting the list to be made a little easier on the eyes when scrolling down the data rows.

Could somebody write me an easy conditional format so that an empty row will highlight when the row is underneath a row that has text within it? I just want an easy way to separate rows of data without making every empty row highlight.

For example:

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 300"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD]Aaye[/TD]
[TD]Bee[/TD]
[TD]Cee[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]a[/TD]
[TD]b[/TD]
[TD]c[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]d[/TD]
[TD]e[/TD]
[TD]f[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][Hightlighted][/TD]
[TD][Hightlighted][/TD]
[TD][Hightlighted][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]g[/TD]
[TD]h[/TD]
[TD]i[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]j[/TD]
[TD]k[/TD]
[TD]l[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][Highlighted][/TD]
[TD][Highlighted][/TD]
[TD][Highlighted][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]m[/TD]
[TD]n[/TD]
[TD]o[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][Highlighted][/TD]
[TD][Highlighted][/TD]
[TD][Highlighted][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]


Thanks!

 

[AhoyNC]

Highlight your range
Go to Conditional Formatting
-New Rule
-Use Formula (replace A1 in the code below with first cell in your range)

=A1=""

-Format (choose format)
-OK
-OK

 

[Bill Rockenbach]

Only the first empty cells row below data is to be highlighted

Select all used cells starting in A2 and use =IF(A1<>"",TRUE,FALSE) in the conditional formatting formula

 

[Milos]

Thanks Bill,

If I take out the "less than sign" the rule works perfectly!

=IF(A1>"",TRUE,FALSE)

 

[FDibbins]

No need to use the IF() statement in CF, it only works on TRUE or FALSE. So you could just use
=A1>""

 

[Milos]

Thanks guys,

Does anyone know how I would alter this conditional format rule so that it would also alter numbers in the above column? As this rule only applies to text..

 

[FDibbins]

Not really sure I understand what you are trying to do here,but...

1. CF is a cosmetic change only, it does not affect the contents of the underlying cells.
2. Formulas can only affect the cell they reside in, they cannot do anything to other cells.

 

[Milos]

Sorry, bad wording on my part. I was meaning altering the rule to include numbers as well as text. As the use of two quotation marks (i.e." ") does not pick up numbers or dates etc. This means it works but it is patchy as the there are number columns in between text columns.

 

[FDibbins]

So you want to color the columns with dates (dates are just numbers, btw) and numbers as well as text, or just text, or just numbers?
Also, not sure if you have, in your actual formula, but don't put a space between ""