Introduction
I don't use Google Sheets often as an instrument for programming. Sometimes an idea comes to my mind that I want to implement as quickly as possible because I want to join the process I came up with. In that case, I'm using Google Sheets because you can share with people and make the process very interesting and fun. And several days ago, I wanted to know how to highlight a row depending on the current date.
Google Sheets Conditional Formatting is a feature to automatically change the font properties of a specific cell, row, column, and even the background color of the cell, based on rules you set.
So, what is conditional formatting? Where can I find it? Glad you're asking.)
Solution
Go to the main menu on the top of your window in Google Sheets and find Format.
Now click on Conditional Formatting, and a right sidebar will appear. There you choose a range and a custom formula.
After that, you copy and paste the necessary code into a field for a custom formula.
I found two ways to achieve this goal.
First way
Use the function below with a range A1:D10.
=ISNUMBER(SEARCH(TODAY(), $A1:$A10))And it finds the current date in your table if there is one.
It works if you format dates as in the picture. But if you will change to another format, for example, 05/28/2023 or 5/28/23, it doesn't find the current date.
Second way
Use the function below with a range A1:D10.
=$A1:$A10 = TODAY()Now you see, it works!
Conclusion
Now you know what is Conditional Formatting in Google Sheets and how to use it. You can find a current date and highlight any rows or columns and cells based on this date. The first way is more specific than the second. You can use the SEARCH() function to find exact data with the current date, while the second way is more abstract, which works excellently with the problem described in the article.