How To Make A Cell Blink In Excel Without Vba

How to Make a Cell Blink in Excel without VBA

If you want to make a cell blink in Excel without using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), you can make use of conditional formatting combined with a macro-free worksheet technique. Here’s a detailed explanation along with an example:

1. Create a New Worksheet:

Start by creating a new worksheet in Excel.

2. Select the Cell to Blink:

Select the cell or range of cells that you want to make blink.

3. Go to Conditional Formatting:

Click on the “Home” tab in the ribbon and then click on “Conditional Formatting” in the toolbar.

4. Select New Rule:

In the Conditional Formatting dropdown, select “New Rule”.

5. Choose a Rule Type:

Under the “Select a Rule Type”, choose “Format only cells that contain”.

6. Set the Format:

In the “Format only cells with” dropdown, choose “Blanks”.

7. Select a Format Style:

Click on the “Format” button and then go to the “Fill” tab to select a background color. Choose a color that will be visible and distinct from the rest of the cells.

8. Apply the Conditional Formatting:

Click “OK” to apply the conditional formatting to the selected cell(s).

9. Save the Workbook as Macro-Free:

In order to retain the blinking effect, make sure to save the workbook as a macro-free format such as .xlsx or .xlsb.

Example:

Let’s say you have a worksheet with numbers from A1 to A10, and you want A1 to blink:

1. Select cell A1.
2. Go to “Conditional Formatting” -> “New Rule”.
3. Choose “Format only cells that contain” -> “Blanks”.
4. Click on “Format” and select a background color.
5. Click “OK” to apply the conditional formatting.

Now, whenever the cell A1 is empty, it will blink with the chosen background color.

Note: The blinking effect is achieved by the conditional formatting rules, and saving the workbook as a macro-free format is important to retain the effect when opening the file.