Rod

You should be able to copy and just paste the formats across both rows and columns. You have to make sure your cell reference formulas are not absoluted so it will change the references as you copy it.

Taking your example you could have a conditional formula
B2: =AND(B2<>"",SUMPRODUCT(--($A$1:$A$12=A2),--($B$1:$B$12=B2))>1)
Make your pattern red and your font white. Then if you copy B2, you can paste formats down to B12 and it should work.

If you want to move it across columns, then remove the absolute from the ranges, and copy across.

If you can't get it to work for your situation, put up an example file that covers your setup and requirements, with non sensitive data for review.


rylo