If I create a conditional formatting rule:

=$D72>$B72 Applies to: $A$72:$G$75

to a blank worksheet, with all cells formatted as General and containing only numbers, it works fine, highlighting cells in the "Applies to" range where the condition is met. However if I apply the same rule to a populated worksheet with a variety of formats (but with columns B and D formatted as General) it doesn't work. What could be different about this worksheet that would prevent the Conditional Formatting from working?

If I insert a new column and in cell F72 enter '=D72>B72', then copy the formula to other cells in the column, I get the expected TRUE and FALSE answers. If I revise the conditional formatting condition to:

=$F72=TRUE

then again the conditional formatting works.