Use the COLUMN function instead of the ROW function in the formula.

Former Lifewire writer Ted French is a Microsoft Certified Professional who teaches and writes about spreadsheets and spreadsheet programs.

Use conditional formatting to change cell or font colors for data you want to stand out.

Quickly apply conditional formatting with Excels built-in formatting rules.

An advantage of using a formula to add row shading is that the shading is dynamic, meaning it changes if the number of rows changes.

If rows are inserted or deleted the row shading adjusts to maintain the pattern.

By changing the conditional formatting rule slightly, the formula shades any pattern of rows.

The first step is to highlight the range of cells to be shaded since the formula only affects these selected cells.

The instructions to shade rows with conditional formatting uses the formula.

Choose New Rule to open the New Formatting Rule dialog box.

In the Format values where this formula is a true text box, enter the formula MOD(ROW(),2)0.

Select the Fill tab and choose a color for the alternate rows.

Select OK when youre finished to return to the New Formatting Rule dialog box.

Select OK to close the New Formatting Rule dialog box and return to the worksheet.

The conditional formatting rule containing the formula is applied to the worksheet.

Alternate rows in the selected range are shaded with the chosen background fill color.

The pattern designed depends on the MOD function in the formula.

MOD divides the row number (determined by the ROW function) by the second number inside the brackets (2) and returns the remainder of modulus.

At this point, conditional formatting takes over and compares the modulus with the number after the equal sign.

If there is a match (when the condition is TRUE), the row is shaded.

If the numbers on either side of the equal sign dont match, the condition is FALSE and no shading occurs for that row.

The condition of 0 in the formula determines that the first row in the range is not shaded.

This is done because this row often contains headings that have their own formatting.

When you want to shade alternate columns, modify the formula used to shade alternate rows.

Outlook 2016 For Mac Conditional Formatting