Created attachment 184964 [details]
LibreOffice Calc table with samples for problems with conditional formatting

I am trying to format cells with optional contents depending on values like "A20", "B37", "D15" (text strings).
The dialogue for the conditional formatting offers an option for that, like "Target value equals" (German: "Zielwert" "ist gleich").

Now, if I set the formatting for the cells that fulfil this condition to some color, all cells NOT fulfilling it get coloured. So I checked, and indeed: if I switch the condition to "Target value unequal to" (German: "Zielwert" "ist ungleich"), the cells with contents of either "A20", "B37" or "D15" get a coloured background.

The consequence of this behaviour is that it seems to be impossible to set independent discriminating conditional formatting for more than one such conditions, as only the last formatting will be actually set (if, as in my case, all formattings apply to background colour only).

Examples:

if cell content = A20, then red background

=> all EMPTY cells in column get red background. Neither cells with content = "A20", nor with any other content are coloured.


if cell content = A20, then red background AND 2nd conditional formatting set
if cell content = B37, then green background

=> Empty cells still get red back background, cells with contents any content.


I attach a sample table with these settings.
The conditional formatting of the cells is done using formats like "A20 red" or "B37 green" …

May be I do not understand how it works.
But then the manual does not clarify it.
May be the German translation doesn't give the correct meaning (but I don't think so)
May be, the conditional formatting doesn't work as expected.

But right now, I do not see a way I can use conditional formatting for the result I expect (see sample file).

Kind regards.