Select all the cells in the particular row(s) that you wish to be governed
by the CF formula, *before* you start the Conditional Formatting.
For example, say you wanted to highlight A1 to G1 to a yellow pattern and a
red font *only when* A1 was greater then 10.
And you wanted this to include the first 10 rows, to be determined by the
cell value in Column A, from A1 to A10.
So, select A1 to G10, with the focus of the selection in A1 (A1 is white),
*then*:
<Format> <Conditional Formatting>,
Change "Cell Value Is" to
"Formula Is", and enter this formula:
=$A1>10
The absolute reference to Column A ($A) dictates that *only* the Column A
cell values control the formatting of the selected row cells.
Click on "Format", and choose your font and/or pattern color, then <OK> out.
You have now set the conditional format for the first 10 rows, from Column A
to Column G.