Excel Formula Cell Based on Background color

Question

I need a formula in EXCEL that place a number 1 in the cell next to the cell where the cell background is RED. See example below.

Is this possible at all without VBA?

Answer 1

This can be done from Name Manager this can be accessed by pressing Ctrl+F3.

You will want to create a named reference (i called this "color") and have it refer to =GET.CELL(63,OFFSET(INDIRECT("RC",FALSE),0,-1)) in the formula bar.

Now you can use this 1 cell to the right to determine the color index number of a cell:

So as red is color index 3 in the cell next to it you can apply the formula:

=IF(color=3,1,0)

Answer 2

You can achieve it manually without VBA using an autofilter:

1. Make sure you have a title above the column with colours and above the column where you want the value 1 placed

2. Add an Autofilter (Select both columns, click the Filter button on the Data tab of the ribbon)

3. Click the drop down filter on the column with colours, then click on Filter by Colour, the choose the Red colour

4. In your second column, enter a 1 in every visible cell. (Enter 1 in the first cell, then fill down. Or, select all cells, type 1 then press ctrl-enter)

Answer 3

Open the VBA editor and add a new module. Do this by going to the Developer tab and clicking Visual Basic. If you don't have the developer tab on the ribbon you will need to add it (do a quick Google search). Once the VBA editor is open, right click on the VBA project which has your workbook name on the left and insert a module.

Place the following code into the new module:

Function IsRed(rng As Range) As Integer
    IsRed = (rng.Interior.Color = vbRed) * -1
End Function

then you can use the formula =IsRed(A1) to determine if A1 has a red background

note: this uses the default red in the standard colours