Counting records or values in Microsoft Excel is easy. Counting individual cells by their fill color definitely isn't. Using an old function and a matrix tames the problem.

TL:dr; How do I format cells with a color based upon absolute value without changing the actual values in the cells to absolute values?

Q. Is there a way to color-code cells based on their cell content? For example, if cells state “Woman-Owned,” could those cells automatically become red and the cells that state “Large Company” ...

Learn how to highlight cells with negative values in Excel. Make negative numbers stand out in Red using Conditional or Custom Formatting.