Can I automate a cell to change color?

jhorvath

I have a column called "Due Date" that I want to turn red when 4 weeks from the due date have past. Is there way to change either the cell color or text color?

Dale Murphy

@jhorvath From your brief description, you should get the result you want using conditional formatting.

dm

jhorvath

@dale3ME I had initially tried that but when my condition is "When Due Date is greater than" it has me put a date instead of a period of time

Genevieve P.

I agree with @Dale Murphy!

Here's the Help Article with more information: Conditional Formatting

Dale Murphy

@jhorvath Try one of these conditions:

Thanks @Genevieve P. !

dm

jhorvath

@dale3ME Maybe I should re-phrase. I want to say if due date exceeds 4 weeks, then change the color of the cell. Those two options are based on due date itself rather than the date that is 4 weeks from the due date. Thank you for your help!

Genevieve P.

Hi @jhorvath

Thanks for clarifying! The way I would do this is to add a helper column to your sheet, another Date type of column. Then you can use a formula to add 28 days (4 weeks) to your Due Date column, like so:

=[Due Date]@row + 28

See: Use Formulas to Perform Calculations With Dates

Then you can set your Conditional Formatting rules off of this helper column, for when that date is in the past.

Cheers!

Genevieve