You can apply the same rule to all the controls, or put a single empty textbox behind all of them and apply the format to that, with the other controls transparent.
I don't understand how I can apply the rule to the rest of the recordset. Say Column 1 is Open or Closed and the remaining columns are something else. How can I tell Column 2 to have a red background if column 1 = Open?
You could only do that with a Continuous View form, not on a Datasheet View form, which most subforms are. You could always use a Continuous View form tweaked to look like a Datasheet.
I don't understand how I can apply the rule to the rest of the recordset. Say Column 1 is Open or Closed and the remaining columns are something else. How can I tell Column 2 to have a red background if column 1 = Open?