Yousuf Khan
You definitely have a lot of stuff in your life to keep track of if you’re like most people. It can be challenging to remain on top of everything, from upcoming bills, payments, and meetings to crucial deadlines at work. Fortunately, Excel’s built-in functions & features can assist you to create alerts for maintaining your organization and staying on top of things. With this in mind, we will start from scratch and show you 4 easy ways to create alerts in Excel.
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4 Suitable Ways to Create Alerts in Excel
In Excel, there are several different ways to set up alerts to notify us when a deadline is about to pass. For instance, we can request a pop-up message that appears on our screen, an email, a text message, or highlighted cells on our datasets. Therefore, in this article, we will learn to effectively build an alert in Excel. Moreover, we will also learn to use Excel formulas and access various features and functions to create alerts. To demonstrate, we take a dataset that represents a client meeting schedule book.
1. Using IF Function to Create Alerts Automatically in Excel
We use Excel IF function for complicated data with logical conditions. The IF function returns a value determining whether the condition is TRUE or FALSE. Therefore, in this article, we will implement this function to determine the date representations. In this way, we can display the specific dates. Follow the steps to do so.
Steps:
- Firstly, in D5, type the following formula,
=IF(C5=TODAY(),"Today","Due Later")- Afterward, press Enter key to see the result in D5, and the return is TODAY.
- Next, use the Fill Handle tool to AutoFill the rest of the cells in column D.
- Thus, we obtain the result in our dataset.
🔍 How Does the Formula Work?
- TODAY() returns the current day in a date format.
- =IF(C5=TODAY(),”Today”,”Due Later”) verifies whether the conditions are TRUE or FALSE. If TRUE then it returns Today and if FALSE, it thoroughly returns Due Later.
Read More: How to Generate Automatic Email Alerts in Excel (2 Easy Ways)
2. Combine IF, TODAY & AND Functions to Show Alerts in Excel
We have already used the IF function in our previous method. In this method, we will also learn to use Excel AND & TODAffY functions and combine them. The TODAY function returns the formatted date as the current date. Alternatively, the AND function returns the TRUE statements checking the conditions are TRUE. Similarly, let’s create a formula using the combination of these functions to get the alarm.
Steps:
- Firstly, write the following formula in cell D5,
=IF(AND(C5<>"",TODAY()=C5),"Today","Due Later")
- Next, tap the Enter key.
- Later, AutoFill the range by dragging the formula cell down.
- Hence, the alerts pop up in the dataset.
🔍 How Does the Formula Work?
- TODAY() returns the current day in a date format.
- AND(C5<>””,TODAY()=C5) checks whether the statement is TRUE and returns only the TRUE
- =IF(AND(C5<>””,TODAY()=C5),”Today”,”Due Later”) verifies whether the conditions are TRUE or FALSE. If TRUE then it returns Today and if FALSE, it thoroughly returns Due Later.
3. Utilize Conditional Formatting Feature to Display Alerts Notifications in Excel
In this method, we will utilize Excel’s Conditional Formatting tool and functions to display alerts in our dataset. Previously, we combined 3 Excel functions and created a formula. Again, we use the same functions to implement this and deliver the formula to formatting to get a highlighted alert. To do so, follow the procedures.
Steps:
- To begin with, write the formula in D5,
=IF(AND(C5<>"",TODAY()=C5),"Today","Due Later")- Later, press Enter key and get the result in the same cell.
- Next, drag the AutoFill Handle up to cell D9.
- As a result, we obtain the alert texts in the range.
- Further, select the range C5:C9.
- Go to the Home tab and click the Conditional Formatting option.
- Consequently, a drop-down box appears.
- Here, tap the New Rule option.
- Furthermore, the New Formatting Rule pops up.
- Choose the option Use a formula to determine which cells to format.
- Then, in the Edit the Rule Description box, type = and paste the formula.
- After that, hit Format.
- Subsequently, the Format Cells menu option opens.
- To illustrate, we select Green color and press OK.
- Lastly, we get our meeting date highlighted.
Read More: How to Create Notifications or Reminders in Excel (5 Methods)
4. Run an Excel VBA Code to Get Pop-up Alerts
In our last method, we will try to get a pop-up alert through Excel VBA. We will obtain the message box whenever will open our workbook and get an automatic alert. However, to get so, we need a VBA code to execute. We will include the code in Project Explorer and save it in macro-enabled format. Follow the steps carefully.
Steps:
- First, go to the Developer tab and click Visual Basic.
- Eventually, the Visual Basic window pops up.
- There, tab View > Project Explorer > This Workbook to open a workbook.
- Next, type the VBA code given below.
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Dim Create_Alerts As Range
Dim Alerts As Range
Dim A_Notify As String
Set Create_Alerts = Range("D5:D9")
For Each Alerts In Create_Alerts
If Alerts <> "" And Date = DateDue Then
A_Notify = A_Notify & " " & Alerts.Offset(0, -2)
End If
Next Alerts
If A_Notify = "" Then
MsgBox "You have a meeting today."
Else: MsgBox "You do not have a meeting today." & A_Notify
End If
End Sub
- Further, press the green Run button.
- Thus, we get the desired pop-up alert message.
Read More: How to Disable Alerts in Excel VBA (With Easy Steps)
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have discussed some easy steps to create alerts in Excel. Not to mention, our ExcelDemy website shows various simple problem-solving methods like this. Please leave any further queries or recommendations in the comment box below.
