Conditional Formatting for errors

Hi guys,

Just a quick and probably silly question.

I wanted a conditional format for an error where someone puts in text as opposed to a figure and the error: "#VALUE!" come up in a cell.

How can I set a conditional format to alert me with a red background when someone enters text instead of a numeric value in a cell?

Thanks in advance.

select cell and go to Format|Conditional Formatting


select Formula Is from 1st drop down and enter formula =ISTEXT(A2) where A2 is the cell to format.

click Format and choose from Pattern tab..

click Ok and click Ok again to finish.

Edit:

Not sure if you know, but you can use another Excel feature, Data Validation, to prevent entry of text in the first place... have a look at Validation under the Data menu... choose Custom and enter formula =Isnumber(A2) again changing A2 for cell you actually are using.

Thanks for both of your replies. Much appreciated.

I forgot to mention that the sheet in question is a link to another spreadsheet.

However I found a solution! I simply entered the formula "=ISERROR(A2)" and this worked fine.

Thank you for your responses this helped me come to this conclusion and thus finding my answer so I appreciate that. :D