Microsoft Office

Part I
Getting Started with Excel
Enhanced Conditional Formatting
Conditional formatting refers to the ability to format a cell based on its value. Conditional formatting makes it
easy to highlight certain values so that they stand out visually. For example, you may set up conditional formatting
so that if a formula returns a negative value, the cell background displays green.
In the past, a cell could have at most three conditions applied. With Excel 2007, a you can format a cell
based on an unlimited number of conditions. But that’s the least of the improvements. Excel 2007 provides
a number of new data visualizations: data bars, color scales, and icon sets. Figure 2.3 shows an example of a
range that uses conditional formatting to display data bars directly in the cells. The size of each data bar is
proportional to the value in the cell.
FIGURE 2.3
Data bars are just one of the new conditional formatting options.
Excel 2007 includes quite a few other improvements to conditional formatting. In general, conditional formatting
is much more flexible, easier to set up, and relies less on creating custom formulas to define the formatting
rules.
CROSS-REF
Chapters 8 and 21 cover conditional formatting.
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