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Introduction

Let's say you have a worksheet with thousands of rows of data. It would be extremely difficult to see patterns and trends just from examining the raw information. Similar to charts and sparklines, conditional formatting provides another way to visualize data and make worksheets easier to understand

Optional: Download our practice workbook.

Understanding conditional formatting

Conditional formatting allows you to automatically apply formatting—such as colors, icons, and data bars—to one or more cells based on the cell value. To do this, you'll need to create a conditional formatting rule. For example, a conditional formatting rule might be: If the value is less than $2000, color the cell red. By applying this rule, you'd be able to quickly see which cells contain values less than $2000.

To create a conditional formatting rule:

In our example, we have a worksheet containing sales data, and we'd like to see which salespeople are meeting their monthly sales goals. The sales goal is $4000 per month, so we'll create a conditional formatting rule for any cells containing a value higher than 4000.

1. Select the desired cells for the conditional formatting rule.Selecting the desired cells
2. From the Home tab, click the Conditional Formatting command. A drop-down menu will appear.
3. Hover the mouse over the desired conditional formatting type, then select the desired rule from the menu that appears. In our example, we want to highlight cells that are greater than $4000.
   
   Selecting a conditional formatting rule
4. A dialog box will appear. Enter the desired value(s) into the blank field. In our example, we'll enter 4000 as our value.
5. Select a formatting style from the drop-down menu. In our example, we'll choose Green Fill with Dark Green Text, then click OK.
   Creating a conditional formatting rule
6. The conditional formatting will be applied to the selected cells. In our example, it's easy to see which salespeople reached the $4000 sales goal for each month.

   
   

   Conditional formatting applied to the data

You can apply multiple conditional formatting rules to a cell range or worksheet, allowing you to visualize different trends and patterns in your data.

To remove conditional formatting:

1. Click the Conditional Formatting command. A drop-down menu will appear.
2. Hover the mouse over Clear Rules, and choose which rules you want to clear. In our example, we'll select Clear Rules from Entire Sheet to remove all conditional formatting from the worksheet.
   Removing conditional formatting rules
3. The conditional formatting will be removed.
   The conditional formatting removed from the worksheet

Click Manage Rules to edit or delete individual rules. This is especially useful if you have applied multiple rules to a worksheet.

Conditional formatting presets

Excel has several predefined styles—or presets—you can use to quickly apply conditional formatting to your data. They are grouped into three categories:

• Data Bars are horizontal bars added to each cell, much like a bar graph.
  Data Bars
• Color Scales change the color of each cell based on its value. Each color scale uses a two- or three-color gradient. For example, in the Green - Yellow - Red color scale, the highest values are green, the average values are yellow, and the lowest values are red.
  Color Scales
• Icon Sets add a specific icon to each cell based on its value.
  Icon Sets

To use preset conditional formatting:

1. Select the desired cells for the conditional formatting rule.
   Selecting the desired cells
2. Click the Conditional Formatting command. A drop-down menu will appear.
3. Hover the mouse over the desired preset, then choose a preset style from the menu that appears.
   Applying a preset conditional formatting rule
4. The conditional formatting will be applied to the selected cells.

   
   

   The applied conditional formatting preset

Challenge!

1. Open an existing Excel workbook. If you want, you can use our practice workbook.
2. Apply conditional formatting to a range of cells with numerical values. If you are using the example, apply a rule for the sales data (cells B3:G23) that will fill cells with green if their values are more than $9000.
3. Apply a second conditional formatting rule to the same set of cells. If you are using the example, apply a preset conditional formatting rule.
4. Clear all conditional formatting rules from the worksheet.

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