How to highlight cells if not in another column in Excel?

In a worksheet, normally, you may need to compare two columns and highlight the cell values in a column which are not in another column to outstanding the results as following screenshot shown. And this article, I will talk about some good tricks to deal with this job.

Highlight cells if not in another column with Conditional Formatting

Highlight cells if not in another column with Kutools for Excel

Highlight cells if not in another column with Conditional Formatting

In Excel, the Conditional Formatting feature can help you to highlight the different values between two columns, please do as follows:

1. Select cells in List A where you want to highlight the values not in List B. And then click Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule, see screenshot:

2. In the popped out New Formatting Rule dialog box, select Use a formula to determine which cells to format under the Select a Rule Type section, and then enter this formula:=ISERROR(MATCH(A2,$C$2:$C$14,0)) into the Format values where this formula is true text box, see screenshot:

Note: In the above formula: A2 is the first cell of the column that you want to highlight the different values, C2:C14 is another column range you want to be compared with.

3. Then click Format button, in the popped out Format Cells dialog box, please select one color under the Fill tab, see screenshot:

4. And then click OK > OK to exit the dialogs, and all the values in List A but not in List B have been highlighted in List A at once, see screenshot:

Note: On the other side, if you want to highlight the different values in List B, you just need to select the List B and apply this formula =ISERROR(MATCH(C2,$A$2:$A$15,0)) into the Conditional Formatting function.

Highlight cells if not in another column with Kutools for Excel

If you have Kutools for Excel, with its Select same & Different Cells utility, you can quickly highlight the different or same values from the two columns.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as follows:

1. Click Kutools > Select > Select Same & Different Cells, see screenshot:

2. In the Select Same & Different Cells dialog box, please specify the following operations:

(1.) Select the two columns that you want to compare from the Find values in and According to boxes separately;

(2.) Select Each row under the Based on section;

(3.) Choose Different Values form the Find section;

(4.) Then choose a background color or font color that you want to highlight the values under the Processing of results.

3. And then click Ok button, and the values in List A but not in List B have been selected and highlighted at once, see screenshot:

Note: To highlight the different values in List B, you just need to switch the range references in the Find values in and According to in the dialog box.

Demo: Highlight cells if not in another column with Kutools for Excel

Related articles:

How to check / find if value exists in another column?

How to compare two columns and list differences in Excel?

How to compare two columns and highlight when found in another column?