Apply conditional formatting to a blank cell if another cell in the row is not blank

Question

I am trying to create a formula for conditional formatting that would highlight a blank cell if another cell in the same row is not blank (i.e., that row is being "used"). The picture below shows that cell J13 is highlighted red because it is blank, and cell H13 is not. I have applied the following conditional formatting equation to the range J13:J.

=AND(NOT(ISBLANK(H3:H)),(ISBLANK(J3:J)))

Instead of applying a similar formula to each column, I would like a formula that would do this for every cell in the range I3:AA, checking whether each cell in this range is blank and checking to see if the corresponding cell in column H is not blank. I thought something like this would work over the range I3:AA.

=AND(NOT(ISBLANK(H3:H)),(ISBLANK(I3:AA)))

But it unfortunately doesn't work.

Can this even work with conditional formatting?

Answer 1

The formula you need is the following:

=NOT(ISBLANK($H3))*(ISBLANK(I3))

Please pay attention to the $ sign in front of H3.
Using the $ (dollar) sign we "lock" the column and the formatting is being applied on the whole row.
You apply the formula on the range I3:AA.