I have a problem with Excel 2016 occasionally reordering a fixed sequence of conditional formatting rules. I got into a chat with support and this has been opened with case # 1387524306. That agent had me call Pro Support, and Pro Support advised me to
post the problem here, as follows.
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I have a complex spreadsheet that includes conditional formatting rules over 3 different ranges of cells. While working elsewhere in the spreadsheet -- not touching any of these three ranges -- I occasionally discover the conditional formatting rules have
been reordered. The fix is easy -- I select the range, go to Home / Conditional Formatting / Manage rules, and select each out-of-sequence rule and move it up or down back into its correct position.
Each of the first four rules test if the cell is equal to one of four different values. If True, the cell is formatted to include bold text and a border. The "Stop" box is not checked on these rules.
The next five rules test if the value is less than each of a consecutive series of increasing values. Depending on the value of the cell it will be formatted to be one of five different colors: yellow, green, yellow, orange, and red. The Stop box is checked.
What happens, for example, is that if the 8th rule changing a cell to orange is moved up to the 3rd position in the list, the bold border rule is not executed for matching the third or fourth specific values, and the (intended) earlier rules
for lower values are not executed.
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Here is what the 9 rules look like. Since I haven't figured out how to expand the manage rules window to show all 9 rules, the following is a composite:
Here is what my spreadsheet looks like when the above rules are in the correct sequence (with the manage rules window open showing the last 5 rules).
Now, when Excel changes the order of the rules, I have not been able to predict what causes it or if there is any pattern to the order change other than that it is usually only one rule that has been moved, and that this move can be either up or down. As
an example, if the 8th rule (to set a cell to orange) gets moved up into the third position, "Stop if True" on that rule blocks the following rules.
Here is what my spreadsheet looks like when the rules have been mysteriously reordered so that the 8th rule has been shifted into the 3rd position (with the manage rules window open showing the first 5 rules).
As I said above, the fix is easy. When I see the formatting has been messed up (the above being an obvious example), I just go into manage rules and put all the rules back into the correct sequence. Then I'm okay for a while -- sometimes months -- before
Excel changes the conditional rules order again. (If any of you are wondering why I don't just color those cells unconditionally, it's because the left hand column colors are dynamically generated from starting conditions -- where someone might be only slightly
at risk instead of close to obese -- and the right hand column colors are then generated by recent progress.)
I am convinced this is a bug that might be related to some optimization going on in the background, and might be triggered when I tweak some formula elsewhere in my spreadsheet. I have not been able to make any tweaks that deliberately force the bug to
happen.
Bottom line -- I am NOT looking for any help with my spreadsheet. I am simply reporting the bug for discussion, and look forward to some future Excel update solving the problem so it doesn't happen again. It's just annoying.
Thanks for your interest.