How to Highlight Cells with External Links in Excel

Highlighting cells with external links can make it easier to identify and manage these links. Excel doesn't have a built-in feature to do this, but you can accomplish it with the Find & Select tool and conditional formatting. Here's how:

Step 1: Find Cells with External Links

Go to the Home tab, and in the Editing group, click on Find & Select. From the dropdown list, choose Find.... In the Find what box, type the start of your external link, which typically would be 'http://', 'https://', or 'www.' depending on your links. Then click Find All.

Step 2: Highlight the Found Cells

In the list of found cells, press Ctrl + A to select all, which will also select all corresponding cells in your worksheet.

Step 3: Apply Conditional Formatting

With the cells still selected, go to Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule. In the dialog box that opens, choose Format all cells based on their values. For the format style, choose 2-Color Scale. You can adjust the colors as needed.

Step 4: Check the Result

Click OK to close the dialog box and apply the formatting. All cells containing external links should now be highlighted.