In the Name box of the Add AutoFormat dialog, type a meaningful name for the new format.

You can define a new AutoFormat that is available to all spreadsheets. If you do not see any change in color of the cell contents, choose View > Value Highlighting from the menu bar.

To select which properties (number format, font, alignment, borders, pattern, autofit width and height) to include in an AutoFormat, click More.

If you copy and paste from a cell or range that has formatting rules, these rules will be applied when you paste the copied data.

The first rule found to be true will define the format of the cell or range.

Rules are evaluated in the order listed.

To remove a rule, point to the rule and click Remove.

For example, a text rule containing 'a~?c' would format cells with 'a?c' but not 'abc' or 'a~?c.'

To match a question mark or asterisk in text, you can escape the wildcard characters by adding a tilde (~) in front of them.

For example, a text rule containing 'a*c' would format cells with 'abc,' 'ac,' and 'abbc' but not 'ab' or 'ca.'

To match zero (0) or more characters, use an asterisk (*).

For example, a text rule containing 'a?c' would format cells with 'abc,' but not 'ac' or 'abbc.'

To match any single character, use a question mark (?).

Wildcard characters can be used with the 'Text contains' or 'Text does not contain' fields while formatting. You can use wildcard characters to match multiple expressions. Often, you will need to add dollar signs ($) in front of letters and numbers in formulas so that the formatting is applied using absolute references as opposed to relative references (A1 to B1, A2 to B2). For example, if you want to make the whole row green if the value in column B is 'Yes', write a formula like '=$B1='Yes'.'

Select the range you want to format, for example, columns A:E.

To format an entire row based on the value of one of the cells in that row: To highlight when there's more than one occurrence of the same value in your data: Note: Formulas can only reference the same sheet, using standard notation '(='sheetname'!cell).' To reference another sheet in the formula, use the INDIRECT function.

Click Value or formula and add the formula and rules.

Under the 'Format cells if' drop-down menu, click Custom formula is. If there's already a rule, click it or Add new rule Custom formula is.

On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.

You can use custom formulas to apply formatting to one or more cells based on the contents of other cells.

Openoffice conditional formatting range