What is Conditional Formatting?
Conditional formatting in Excel automatically applies formats, which may be based on colours, fonts, and borders across cells. Such a format makes it possible to clearly analyse data against the view of spotting trends or important things.
Types of Conditional Formatting
Cell Value-Based Formatting:
Highlight cells that meet a specific condition (e.g., greater than a certain value, less than a value, equal to another value, etc.).
Text-Based Formatting:
Format cells based on the content of text in the cell (e.g., text contains certain words, begins with a letter, etc.).
Date-Based Formatting:
Apply formatting based on date-related conditions (e.g., past dates, upcoming events, dates within a range).
Top/Bottom Rules:
Highlight the top or bottom values in a range (e.g., top 10 values, bottom 5%, etc.).
Data Bars:
Display horizontal bars within the cells to represent the relative size of the value in a given range.
Color Scales:
Use gradient colors to show the variation in values (e.g., red for low values, green for high values).
Icon Sets:
Display icons (such as arrows, traffic lights, etc.) to visually represent data categories (e.g., increase, decrease, or no change).
How to Apply Conditional Formatting
1. Apply Conditional Formatting Based on Cell Values
Step 1: Select the range of cells you want to format.
Step 2: Go to the Home tab in the Ribbon.
Step 3: Click on Conditional Formatting.
Step 4: Choose from one of the following options:
Highlight Cell Rules: Apply formatting for values greater than, less than, equal to, or between two values.
Top/Bottom Rules: Highlight the top or bottom values, or percentages in the range.
Data Bars: Add colored bars to cells based on their values.
Color Scales: Apply color gradients to represent relative values in the range.
Icon Sets: Use icons to represent different categories of data.
Example: Highlight cells that are greater than 100:
Select your data range (e.g., A1:A10).
Go to Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cell Rules > Greater Than.
In the dialog box, enter 100 and choose a formatting style (e.g., fill color: red).
Click OK, and cells with values greater than 100 will be highlighted in red.
2. Apply Conditional Formatting with Custom Formulas
You can use a custom formula to apply conditional formatting based on more complex conditions.
Example: Format cells in column A where values are greater than the corresponding value in column B:
Select the range (e.g., A1:A10).
Go to Conditional Formatting > New Rule > Use a formula to determine which cells to format.
Enter the formula:
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=A1>B1
Choose the formatting style (e.g., green fill) and click OK.
3. Apply Conditional Formatting Based on Text or Dates
Text-Based Conditional Formatting: For instance, to highlight cells containing the word “Overdue,” you can:
Select the range.
Go to Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cell Rules > Text that Contains.
Enter the word “Overdue” and choose a formatting style.
Date-Based Conditional Formatting: To highlight cells with dates that are older than today:
Select the range of cells with dates.
Go to Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cell Rules > A Date Occurring.
Choose the appropriate date range (e.g., Yesterday, Last Week, etc.).
CONCLUSION
Conditional formatting indeed is a nice tool to pick out all the important information and in tracking trends to improve your data visualization in Excel, and it can be in cell values, text dates, or even custom formulas. So, the possibilities of what you can create with Excel are really quite staggering in how you can apply it to meet a very specific need in data analysis.