Microsoft Office

Visualizing Data Using
Conditional Formatting
This chapter explores conditional formatting, one of Excel’s most versatile
features. You can apply conditional formatting to a cell so that the cells
look different, depending on its content.
Conditional formatting has improved significantly in Excel 2007, and it’s now a
useful tool for visualizing numeric data. In some cases, you may be able to use
conditional formatting in lieu of a chart.
About Conditional Formatting
Conditional formatting enables you to apply cell formatting selectively and automatically,
based on the contents of the cells. For example, you can set things up
so that all negative values in a range have a light-yellow background color. When
you enter or change a value in the range, Excel examines the value and checks
the conditional formatting rules for the cell. If the value is negative, the background
is shaded. If not, no formatting is applied.
IN THIS CHAPTER
An overview of Excel’s
conditional formatting feature
How to use the graphical
conditional formats
Examples of using conditional
formatting formulas
Tips for using conditional
formatting
Conditional formatting is a useful way to quickly identify erroneous cell entries
or cells of a particular type. You can use a format (such as bright-red cell shading)
to make particular cells easy to identify.
Figure 21.1 shows a worksheet with nine ranges, each with a different type of
conditional formatting rule applied. Here’s a brief explanation of each:
n
n
n
Greater than 10: Values greater than 10 are highlighted with a different
background color. This rule is just one of many numeric value
related rules that you can apply.
Above average: Values that are higher than the average value are highlighted.
Duplicate values: Values that appear more than one time are highlighted.
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