How to highlight cells if they match neighboring cells - vba

Question

I regularly work with data spanning multiple columns and need a convenient way to highlight multiple rows that contain the same value in a specific column, but I need to alternate between highlighted and non-highlighted.
For example, I'll have several rows with data in Column A like:
700105862
700105862
700105862
700103235
700103235
700108783
700108783
700108783
And what I'd want to do is highlight the first three rows (700105862), then not highlight 700103235, then again, highlight 700108783.
I was wondering if there was a conditional formatting formula that'd make this possible.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,

Answer 1

if your numbers are divided into chunks of always different numbers repetitions, then you could use this VBA code:
Sub main()
Dim item As Variant
Dim startRow As Long
Dim okHighlight As Boolean
With Range("A1", Cells(Rows.count, 1).End(xlUp))
For Each item In GetUniqueValues(.Cells).Items
If okHighlight Then .Range(.Cells(startRow, 1), .Cells(item, 1)).Interior.ColorIndex = 48
startRow = item + 1
okHighlight = Not okHighlight
Next
End With
End Sub
Function GetUniqueValues(rng As Range) As Dictionary
Dim cell As Range
Dim dict As Dictionary
Set dict = New Dictionary
With dict
For Each cell In rng
.item(cell.Value) = cell.row - rng.Rows(1).row + 1
Next
End With
Set GetUniqueValues = dict
End Function
a Conditional formatting approach is possible on with a helper column
assuming:
your data are in column A and begin from row 2
column B is free
then:
write the following formula in helper column B cells:
=IF(A2<>A1,B1+1,0)
apply conditional formatting to column A with the following formula:
=INT(B2/2)=B2/2
and choosing the format you like to highlight cells

Answer 2

Sure, if you know what ranges you want to highlight you'd simply set the conditional formatting to be between x and y values. Comment on this question with what you dont get and I'll amend the answer accordingly.