Highlight duplicates cells, but ignore cells with a ?

[bhsoundman]

I've basically got a column of names. I want to highlight duplicates. Conditional formatting works well, but but many cells in the column = "?" as a place holder. Obviously this will get flagged as a duplicate as well, but I want to take any cells that = "?" out of the running. So, basically with the exception of cells that = "?" I want to highlight duplicates. I'm fine with a VBA macro, just was trying to use a build in tool. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[etaf]

countifs( range, "<>"?",range, cell)
in a conditional formatting
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$21,$A2,$A$2:$A$21,"<>?")>1

Book9
	A
2	name1
3	name2
4	name3
5	?
6	name5
7	name6
8	name7
9	?
10	name1
11	?
12	name3
13	?
14	name5
15	?
16	name7
17	name16
18	name17
19	name18
20	name19
21	name20
Sheet1

Cells with Conditional Formatting
Cell	Condition		Cell Format	Stop If True
A2:A21	Expression	=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$21,$A2,$A$2:$A$21,"<>?")>1	text	NO

Note: Images are difficult to see , and also requires that I input all the data myself, which is very time consuming.

A SMALL sample spreadsheet, around 10-20 rows, would help a lot here, with all sensitive data removed, and expected results mocked up and manually entered, with a few notes of explanation.

MrExcel has a tool called “XL2BB” that lets you post samples of your data and will allow us to copy/paste your sample data into our Excel spreadsheets, saving a lot of time.

XL2BB - Excel Range to BBCode

Excel 'mini-sheet' in messages - XL2BB Although experts prefer to read your description and question instead of working in your actual file to solve your problem, there are times that it is difficult to explain an issue without providing actual...

www.mrexcel.com

You can also test to see if it works ok, in the "Test Here" forum.

Test Here

Use this forum to test your signature, learn bbcode, smilies, XL2BB, etc. Threads in this forum are automatically deleted after no replies for seven (7) days

www.mrexcel.com

OR if you cannot get XL2BB to work, or have restrictions on your PC , then put the sample spreadsheet onto a share
I only tend to goto OneDrive, Dropbox or google docs , as I'm never certain of other random share sites and possible virus.

 

[bhsoundman]

countifs( range, "<>"?",range, cell)
in a conditional formatting
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$21,$A2,$A$2:$A$21,"<>?")>1

Book9
	A
2	name1
3	name2
4	name3
5	?
6	name5
7	name6
8	name7
9	?
10	name1
11	?
12	name3
13	?
14	name5
15	?
16	name7
17	name16
18	name17
19	name18
20	name19
21	name20
Sheet1

Cells with Conditional Formatting
Cell	Condition		Cell Format	Stop If True
A2:A21	Expression	=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$21,$A2,$A$2:$A$21,"<>?")>1	text	NO

Note: Images are difficult to see , and also requires that I input all the data myself, which is very time consuming.

A SMALL sample spreadsheet, around 10-20 rows, would help a lot here, with all sensitive data removed, and expected results mocked up and manually entered, with a few notes of explanation.

MrExcel has a tool called “XL2BB” that lets you post samples of your data and will allow us to copy/paste your sample data into our Excel spreadsheets, saving a lot of time.

XL2BB - Excel Range to BBCode

Excel 'mini-sheet' in messages - XL2BB Although experts prefer to read your description and question instead of working in your actual file to solve your problem, there are times that it is difficult to explain an issue without providing actual...

www.mrexcel.com

You can also test to see if it works ok, in the "Test Here" forum.

Test Here

Use this forum to test your signature, learn bbcode, smilies, XL2BB, etc. Threads in this forum are automatically deleted after no replies for seven (7) days

www.mrexcel.com

OR if you cannot get XL2BB to work, or have restrictions on your PC , then put the sample spreadsheet onto a share
I only tend to goto OneDrive, Dropbox or google docs , as I'm never certain of other random share sites and possible virus.

Thanks so much etaf! This works perfectly!!

 

[etaf]

you are welcome