How to highlight cell or row with checkbox in Excel?

As below screenshot shown, you need to highlight row or cell with checkbox. When a checkbox is checked, a specified row or a cell will be highlighted automatically. But how to achieve it in Excel? This article will show you two methods to achieve it.

Highlight cell or row with checkbox with Conditional Formatting
Highlight cell or row with checkbox with VBA code

Highlight cell or row with checkbox with Conditional Formatting

You can create a Conditional Formatting rule to highlight cell or row with checkbox in Excel. Please do as follows.

Link all check box to a specified cell

1. You need to insert checkboxes into cells one by one manually by clicking Developer > Insert > Check Box (Form Control).

2. Now check boxes have been inserted to cells in column I. Please select the first check box in I1, enter formula =$J1 into the formula bar, and then press the Enter key.

Tip: If you don't want to have values associated in adjacent cells to checkboxes, you can link the checkbox to another worksheet's cell such as =Sheet3!$E1.

2. Repeat step 1 until all check boxes are linked to the adjacent cells or cells in another worksheet.
Note: All linked cells should be consecutive and locating in the same column.

Create a Conditional Formatting rule

Now you need to create a Conditional Formatting rule as follows step by step.

1. Select the rows you need to highlight with checkboxes, then click Conditional Formatting > New Rule under the Home tab. See screenshot:

2. In the New Formatting Rule dialog box, you need to:

2.1 Select the Use a formula to determine which cells to format option in the Select a Rule Type box;

2.2 Enter formula =IF($J1=TRUE,TRUE,FALSE) into the Format values where this formula is true box;
      Or =IF(Sheet3!$E1=TRUE,TRUE,FALSE) if the check boxes linked to another worksheet.

2.3 Click the Format button to specify a highlighted color for the rows;

2.4 Click the OK button. See screenshot:

Note: In the formula, $J1 or $E1 is the first linked cell for the check boxes, and make sure the cell reference has been changed to column absolute (J1 > $J1 or E1 > $E1).

Now the Conditional Formatting rule is created. When checking the check boxes, the corresponding rows will be highlighted automatically as bellows screenshot shown.

Highlight cell or row with checkbox with VBA code

The following VBA code can also help you to highlight cell or row with checkbox in Excel. Please do as follows.

1. In the worksheet you need to highlight cell or row with checkbox. Right click the Sheet Tab and select View Code from the right-clicking menu to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. Then copy and paste the below VBA code into the Code window.

VBA code: Highlight row with checkbox in Excel

Sub AddCheckBox()
Dim xCell As Range
Dim xRng As Range
Dim I As Integer
Dim xChk As CheckBox
On Error Resume Next
InputC:
    Set xRng = Application.InputBox("Please select the column range to insert checkboxes:", "Kutools for Excel", Selection.Address, , , , , 8)
If xRng Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
If xRng.Columns.Count > 1 Then
    MsgBox "The selected range should be a single column", vbInformation, "Kutools fro Excel"
    GoTo InputC
Else
    If xRng.Columns.Count = 1 Then
        For Each xCell In xRng        
            With ActiveSheet.CheckBoxes.Add(xCell.Left, _
               xCell.Top, xCell.Width = 15, xCell.Height = 12)
               .LinkedCell = xCell.Offset(, 1).Address(External:=False)
               .Interior.ColorIndex = xlNone
               .Caption = ""
               .Name = "Check Box " & xCell.Row
            End With    
            xRng.Rows(xCell.Row).Interior.ColorIndex = xlNone                  
        Next        
    End If    
    With xRng    
     .Rows.RowHeight = 16    
    End With   
    xRng.ColumnWidth = 5#    
    xRng.Cells(1, 1).Offset(0, 1).Select    
    For Each xChk In ActiveSheet.CheckBoxes   
      xChk.OnAction = ActiveSheet.Name + ".InsertBgColor"      
    Next
End If
End Sub

Sub InsertBgColor()
Dim xName As Integer
Dim xChk As CheckBox
For Each xChk In ActiveSheet.CheckBoxes 
  xName = Right(xChk.Name, Len(xChk.Name) - 10) 
  If (xName = Range(xChk.LinkedCell).Row) Then   
   If (Range(xChk.LinkedCell) = "True") Then   
    Range("A" & xName, Range(xChk.LinkedCell).Offset(0, -2)).Interior.ColorIndex = 6    
   Else    
    Range("A" & xName, Range(xChk.LinkedCell).Offset(0, -2)).Interior.ColorIndex = xlNone  
   End If  
  End If
Next
End Sub

3. Press the F5 key to run the code. (Note: you should put the cursor into the first part of the code to apply the F5 key) In the popping up Kutools for Excel dialog box, please select the range you want to insert check boxes, and then click the OK button. Here I select range I1:I6. See screenshot:

4. Then check boxes are inserted into selected cells. Check any one of the checkboxes, the corresponding row will be highlighted automatically as below screenshot shown.

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