Excel Formulas to Highlight the cells with Columns Difference!!
Tags: excelformula, conditionalformattin, excelformulas
Published: 2021-03-24 04:06:48

---
title: Excel Formulas to Highlight the cells with Columns Difference!!
published: true
date: 2021-03-23 11:54:43 UTC
tags: ExcelFormula,Conditionalformattin,Excelformulas
canonical_url: https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-to-highlight-the-cells-with-columns-differences/
---

Have you ever tried to format the cells in two columns that differ from each other? Today, we are going to look at how you can use the conditional formatting option in Excel to **highlight the cells based on the difference between two columns of data**. Let’s step them below!! Get an official version of ** MS Excel**  from the following link: [https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/excel](https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/excel)

[![Formulas to highlight column differences](https://geekexcel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Formulas-to-highlight-column-differences.png)](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-to-highlight-the-cells-with-columns-differences/formulas-to-highlight-column-differences/#main)<figcaption id="caption-attachment-22641">Formulas to highlight column differences</figcaption>
## General Formula:

- If you want to highlight the differences between two columns of data, you can use the below formula.

**=[$A1](https://geekexcel.com/use-absolute-reference-in-excel-office-365-with-examples/)<>$B1**

## Syntax Explanations:

- **Absolute Reference ($)** – The **[Absolute Reference](https://geekexcel.com/use-absolute-reference-in-excel-office-365-with-examples/)** is an actual fixed location in a worksheet.
- **A1 & B1** – It represents the input values from two columns.
- **Not Equal (<>)** – This symbol represents the **“not equal to operator”**.

## Practical Example:

Let’s consider the below example image.

- First, we will enter the input values in **Column B** and **Column C**.
- Here, we are going to highlight the cells which are different from each other.

![Input Ranges](https://geekexcel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Input-Ranges-29.png)<figcaption id="caption-attachment-22642">Input Ranges</figcaption>

- Apply the above-given formula in the conditional formatting option.
- To know  **how to apply conditional formatting**  in Excel, just **refer to this article<u>:</u>[ How to Apply the Formula with Conditional Formatting In Excel?](https://geekexcel.com/how-to-apply-formula-with-conditional-formatting/)**
- Finally, we will get the result as per the below image.

![Result](https://geekexcel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Result-33.png)<figcaption id="caption-attachment-22639">Result</figcaption>

## Wind-Up:

From this tutorial, you can get to know the simple formula to **highlight the difference between two columns of data in Excel**. If you have any **doubts** related to this article, don’t forget to let me know. I reply to queries frequently. Thank you for visiting our site!! Click here to know more about **[Geek Excel](https://geekexcel.com/) **and [**Excel Formulas**](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formula/) **!!**

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