How to highlight consecutive or non-consecutive numbers from a column in Excel?

Identifying consecutive or non-consecutive numbers in a column is useful for spotting gaps in a sequence. This guide explains how to highlight these numbers in Excel using Conditional Formatting or the Find Missing Sequence Number utility in Kutools for Excel.

Highlight consecutive or non-consecutive numbers from a column with Conditional Formatting

Highlight non-consecutive numbers from a column with Kutools for Excel

Highlight consecutive or non-consecutive numbers from a column with Conditional Formatting

In fact, the Conditional Formatting feature of Excel can help you to highlight the consecutive or non-consecutive numbers in a column, please do as follows:

1. Select the break sequence number list, and click Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule, see screenshot:

2. In the popped out New Formatting Rule dialog box, please do the following operations:

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

(2.) Enter this formula =A2+1=A3 (A2 is the first number of the sequence number) into the Format values where this formula is true text box;

(3.) Then click Format button to go to the Format Cells dialog box;

(4.) At last, choose one color you like to highlight the consecutive numbers from the Fill tab. See screenshot:

3. Then click OK > OK to close the dialogs, and now, you can see the groups of consecutive sequence numbers have been highlighted imminently. See screenshot:

Note: To highlight the non-consecutive numbers which break the series numbers, apply this formula: =A2+1<>A3 in the Conditional Formatting.

Highlight non-consecutive numbers from a column with Kutools for Excel

With Kutools for Excel’s Find Missing Sequence Number utility, you can quickly find and highlight missing numbers and optionally insert them into the sequence.

1. Select the sequence list, and click Kutools > Insert > Find Missing Sequence Number, see screenshot:

2. In the Find Missing Sequence Number dialog box, please select Fill background color option under the Handling missing sequence number, and choose one color you want to highlight the cells which break the sequence numbers, and then click OK button, all the non-consecutive numbers have been highlighted at once, see screenshot:

Demo: Highlight non-consecutive numbers from a column with Kutools for Excel

Related article:

How to highlight consecutive duplicate cells from a list in Excel?