Skip to main content

How to highlight the last row/cell in Excel?

Author Kelly Last modified

This article is talking about highlighting the last row in a certain range, highlighting the last cell of used range in active worksheet, and highlighting the last nonblank cell of last used row/column in active worksheet.

Highlight the last row in certain range with Conditional formatting

Highlight the last (nonblank) cell of last used row/column/ used range in active sheet


Highlight the last row in certain range with Conditional formatting

This method will guide you to highlight the last row in a certain range with conditional formatting in Excel. Please do as follows:

1. Define a name with clicking Formulas > Define Name.

click Define Name from Formula tab

2. In the opening New Name dialog box, please type LastRow into the Name box, type =MATCH(9.9E+307,$A:$A) into the Refers to box, and then click the OK button.

enter formula into the New Name dialog box

3. Select the range you will apply the conditional formatting to (in our case we select the Range A1:E30), and click Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule. See screenshot:

click New Rule from the Conditional Formatting command

4. In the opening New Formatting Rule dialog box, please:

(1) Click to highlight the Use a formula to determine which cells to format option in the Select a Rule Type box;

(2) In the Format values where this formula is true box, type the formula =ROW()=LastRow;

(3) Click the Format button.

set options in the New Formatting Rule dialog box

5. In the popping up Format Cells dialog box, go to the Fill tab, specify a fill color, and click the OK button. See screenshot:

specify a fill color

6. Now you return to the New Formatting Rule dialog box, please click the OK button to apply this conditional formatting.

And then you will see the last row with data in the specified range is automatically highlighted. See screenshot:

the last row with data is highlighted automatically

Notes:

1. Only if cells are filled with numbers or dates in the Column A, this conditional formatting can recognize and highlight the last row in the specified range.

2. If there are numbers or dates in column A beyond the specified range, this conditional formatting rule will be invalid.



Highlight the last (nonblank) cell of last used row/column/ used range in active sheet

This method will introduce Kutools for Excel’s Select Last Cell utility to select the last cell of used range, or select the last nonblank cell of last row/column in active worksheet with only one click, and then we can add fill color for selected cell easily.

Kutools for Excel - Packed with over 300 essential tools for Excel. Enjoy permanently free AI features! Download now!

1. Click Kutools > Select > Select Last Cell > Last One to select the last cell of used range in active worksheet.

click Select Last Cell feature of kutools

2. Now the last cell of used range in active worksheet is selected. Please click Home > Fill Color and then specify a fill color from the drop down list to highlight this cell. See screenshot:

specify a fill color for highlighting the last cell

Notes:

(1) Highlight the last nonblank cell of last used row with clicking Kutools > Select > Select Last Cell > Last Row, and then clicking Home > Fill Color.

highlight last row cell with kutools

(2) Highlight the last nonblank cell of last used column with clicking Kutools > Select > Select Last Cell > Last Column, and then clicking Home > Fill color.

highlight last column cell with kutools

Kutools for Excel - Supercharge Excel with over 300 essential tools. Enjoy permanently free AI features! Get It Now


Demo: Highlight the last (nonblank) cell of last used row/column/ used range in active sheet

 

Related articles:

Best Office Productivity Tools

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup    Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar    Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells    Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more
Use Kutools in your preferred language – supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...


Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!