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How to conditional formatting red amber green based on date in Excel?

Author Xiaoyang Last modified

If you have a list of dates in a worksheet, you would like to highlight the date with red, amber and green colors with conditional formatting. For example, if the date is past, then show red; if the future dates within 3 months from now show amber color; and if the future date is more than 3 months from now, the green color is displayed as following screenshot shown. How could you solve this job in Excel as quickly as you can?

conditional formatting red amber green based on date

Conditional formatting red amber green based on date in Excel


Conditional formatting red amber green based on date in Excel

To conditional formatting a list of date with red, amber and green colors like the traffic light system, please do with the below steps:

1. Select the date column, and click Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule, see screenshot:

click Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule

2. In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, click Use a formula to determine which cells to format option in the Select a Rule Type list box, and then enter this formula: =A2<TODAY() into the Format values where this formula is true text box, see screenshot:

specify the options in the dialog box to highlight paste dates

3. Then click Format button to go to the Format Cells dialog, under the Fill tab, select the red color, see screenshot:

select the red color

4. And then click OK > OK buttons to close the dialogs, and now, the past dates in the column have been highlighted with red color, see screenshot:

the past dates in the column are highlighted with red color

5. To highlight the future dates within 3 months from now, go to the New Formatting Rule dialog box, and enter this formula: =AND(A2>=today(),A2<edate(today(),3)) into the Format values where this formula is true text box, see screenshot:

specify the options in the dialog box to highlight the future dates within 3 months from now

6. And then click Format and choose an amber color in the Format Cells dialog, click OK > OK, and the dates within 3 months from now have been highlighted as below screenshot shown:

the dates within 3 months from now are highlighted with amber color

7. To highlight the date more than 3 months from now, you just need to apply this formula: =A2>EDATE(TODAY(),3) into the New Formatting Rule dialog box, see screenshot:

specify the options in the dialog box to highlight the date more than 3 months from now

8. And choose the green color to conditional formatting the date more than 3 months in the Format Cells dialog, and you will get the result as following screenshot shown:

 the date more than 3 months from now are highlighted with green color

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