Conditional formatting of variable size table, based on values in array

Question

I have a table B2:H9 and I'm trying to highlight the cells that match the values in column K2:K9 see sample 1

I can do conditional formatting in B2:H9 cells by using the EQUAL TO option - I select one cell in the column K2:K9 at a time, so I have to repeat the process 8 times. see sample 2

The problem I am running into is that both the table B2:H9 and the reference column K2:K9 will change size (sometimes will be 1000 rows or more) and it's impossible to repeat this task so many times.

Is there a faster way to do this? I tried the option "Use a formula to determine which cells to format" but had no luck - it seems to only work for individual cells but not for the full column K2:K9

Thanks!

Answer 1

you can do the following:

1. select B2
2. set conditional formatting as =B2=$K2 , press OK
3. in the Applies to section extend the range from B2 to B2:H9

as for B2 there is no $ it should change dynamically for both rows and columns, and for $K2 only row should change