We got this email from Dan Stitzel today:

Good morning!

Dan Frost asked me a great question, but I didn’t have a quick answer, but I know there has to be a way. The question is below:

Is there a way in conditional formatting or data validation that a color or text will automatically enter text into a separate cell? For example, 3-5 is low, 6-8 is average, ad 9-10 is above. Is there a way to type “3” in cell b8 and the word “low” appears in cell c9?

If this does not make sense, let me know!

Thanks!
Dan

Solution

Doing this kind of work is pretty easy with a nested IF statement in Google Sheets, but you have to mind your ps and qs so the statement doesn’t get super crazy…

Essentially, IF this is TRUE, then do THAT…

Works like this:

=IF(A1=3,"THREE",IF(A1=5,"FIVE",IF(A1=8,"EIGHT","TRY ANOTHER NUMBER")))

Using < for ranges, would look something like this, structuring the formula from low to high:

=IF(A6<5,"LOW",IF(A6<8,"MEDIUM","HIGH"))

You can of course make use of > or < symbols as well… The last argument “TRY ANOTHER…” is the error, or ELSE, as in if none of the nested IF statements are true, then what? Remember, all text needs to be in double quotes…

Then, you could always conditionally format on the words, if needed…

Here’s the sheet above: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13jokc_BOaehnhQgiCWAaNz0ARBQrnEH8dTQ2AvC79Mo/copy

Want more? Head here: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093364?hl=en