Compare data in two worksheets of same file and highlight the cell

Question

I am trying to use conditional formatting with comparing two columns on two different worksheets and highlight the cell.

For example:

Here is the first worksheet (Sheet_First):

Column-A    Column-B        Column-C
————         ————             ——— 
John        SanJose        Electronics
Lisa        Texas          Computer
Patrick     Stanford       Physics
Dave        Newyork        Mathematics

Here is the second worksheet (Sheet_Second):

Column-A    Column-B        Column-C
————         ————              ——— 
Jack        Denver          Electronics
Steve       Dublin          Computer
Shane       London          Physics
Patrick     Stanford        Mathematics

I would need to compare the column “Column-B” from Sheet 1 with Sheet 2, and look for any matching values (irrespective of the order) and highlight the matching cells with a color in column “Column-B” of Sheet2. In this case, Stanford in the second worksheet should be highlighted.

I selected the entire column (Column-B of Sheet_First) and used Conditional formatting with the formula =B1<>Sheet_Second!B1 but it returned an error "you may not use references to other workbooks for conditional formatting criteria”

Is this formula correct? What could be causing this error?

Answer 1

My version of Excel, Excel 2010, allows to do that out of the box. What version do you have? Here is a post that list various options for older versions: Format cell color based on value in another sheet and cell