Excel help, version 37 (weird formatting question)

[QuikSand]

(Yes, I looked - there are at least a half dozen threads with this exact title here already)

So, I'd like to create a spreadsheet where the base information gets entered in certain places, with certain formatting, and that itself is enough to generate some calculations in the background.

I'm familiar with conditional formatting, like "if the number is over 90%, highlight in yellow" or whatnot. But is there a way to create a conditional statement that gets to something more like this:

If [CELL A8] is bolded, then insert value of 5 into [CELL F8]

Any guesses or leads? I don't know how to frame my question correctly to get help from within Excel.

[Suburban Rhythm]

If I'm understanding correctly, I think you'd just need to use an IF statement in, in the example, F8.

So following the example -

A8 = 100

and column A is formatted that all cells above 80 are bolded

A8 is now bolded

F8 contains =IF(A8>80,5,0)

[QuikSand]

The contents of the trigger cell (A8 above) will be text, not numeric. So, I don't have a value to read, just the text and its formatting. That's the rub. I want to make this simple for my staff to enter the data once in a WYSIWYG setup (the bold/formatted text is going to be part of a visual) and have the numeric stuff happen off to the side, that way any updates to the text/formatting flow through to the numbers.

Sorry if that doesn't make intuitive sense... I know what I want, just don't know how to do it in Excel or if it's possible.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

The contents of the trigger cell (A8 above) will be text, not numeric. So, I don't have a value to read, just the text and its formatting. That's the rub. I want to make this simple for my staff to enter the data once in a WYSIWYG setup (the bold/formatted text is going to be part of a visual) and have the numeric stuff happen off to the side, that way any updates to the text/formatting flow through to the numbers.

Sorry if that doesn't make intuitive sense... I know what I want, just don't know how to do it in Excel or if it's possible.

Will the text entered be free form, or from a limited list (possibly a drop down?)

And the formatting (bolding, highlighting) is going to be a manual process?

[henry296]

Is the staff entering the information determining if the text is bold or is their conditional formatting to determine if it is bold?

[QuikSand]

I would envision staff entering in data, and making an external (non-Excel) judgment on how the text should be formatted. I am asking them to use the formatting to help the visual side, and would like to import from the formatting the numeric counterpart.

If you're curious, I am developing a tool for political analysis, and I'm trying to plot out the parties of interest in a visually accessible way. I want their location on a grid to indicate their political power, and the text (some combination of bold, caps, or grayed-out) to indicate the strength of their commitment to the issue. From these two factors, I would run an inventory of the cumulative political stake by all parties, to determine an estimate of the likelihood of passage.

I basically know what I want to do... I just don't know how to do it in Excel, and as I build the tool, I want to make it as entry-friendly as possible. If this is impossible, my alternative might be to invert the process, and have people enter the list of actors and their subjective values, and try to draw from that table the visual output and calculations (I find this inelegant, but possible).

[henry296]

One idea is to have them enter a B in another cell that would create both the bold highlighting and then you could build the rest of the formulas based on that value.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by henry296

One idea is to have them enter a B in another cell that would create both the bold highlighting and then you could build the rest of the formulas based on that value.

Yes, that's possible as well, though I don't really like it as much as one entry. Once I give up on the windmills, that's the likeliest outcome here.

[Buccaneer]

I would use VBA with this as the core statement:
If ActiveCell.Font.Bold = True
...

[Suburban Rhythm]

Yep, what Bucc is suggesting.

Something like this:

Function IsBold(rCell As Range)
IsBold = rCell.Font.Bold
End Function

Then if your input cell is A1, in column C1:

=IsBold(A1)

Will return a true or false.

Then set your conditional formatting to read the True or False.

Add additional defined functions as necessary