•  Conditional formatting in Excel

is a tool that allows you to

change the appearance of a cell
or range of cells based on the
contents of the cells.

•  There are several types of

conditional formatting rules built
in to Excel and many more
options available through
customization.

•  These options are helpful for

highlighting trends, mistakes in
data, and variances that fall
outside an expected range.
Highlight Cells Rules

•  Choose one of the built in rules or

choose ‘More Rules’ for
customizable options

•  Great for finding zero values, values

outside normal ranges, negative
values, duplicates, and other
specific amounts

•  Also can be used for finding dates

and text values
Highlight Cells Rules

•  Enter any value in the first

field, or you can choose a
cell in your workbook to find
amounts.
•  Defaults to Light Red Fill
with Dark Red Text, but can
be changed to any
formatting.
•  Choose Custom Format if
you want to define the
format. You can choose
Number styles, Fill colors,
Cell borders, and certain
Font options
Top/Bottom Rules

•  Use these options to find values

within the selection that represent
the highest and lowest amounts or
amounts that are above or below
average within the selection.

•  Could be used for any selected

group of cells, columns or rows.

•  You can use more than one on the

same selection, using different
formats to differentiate between
them.
Top/Bottom Rules

•  In this example, we find the Top 10

Items in the column and format
them with Light Red Fill.

•  The Top/Bottom Items and % can

be changed to include any number
or percentage. (Top 20, Bottom 5,
etc.) Just change the number in the
dialog box.
Top/Bottom Rules

Another example using Top 5% of values in

the column. Formatted to Green Fill with
Dark Green Text.
Data Bars
Data Bars can be used to visually
interpret the amounts within the
selected range of cells.
Preset options are Gradient Filled
Bars and Solid Filled Bars in 6
different colors. The size of the bar
indicates the amount in comparison
with the other amounts in the
selection.

Gradient blue Solid orange

Color Scales

•  Color Scales are another way

to visually interpret values in
a selected range of cells.
•  You can choose 2-color scales
or 3-color scales.
•  12 preset options available

•  Scales are customizable

 2-scale Red/
White
example

Color Scales
•  2-color scales have one color for
the highest value in the
selection and one for the lowest
value. Values in between are
represented with shaded
gradations of the two colors.

•  Minimum and Maximum colors

can be customized with the
these types and any value or
colors.
 3-scale Blue/
White/Red
example

Color Scales
•  3-color scales have a highest
value color, a lowest value
color and a midpoint color.
The midpoint can also be
customized with the
following types and any
value or color. The defaults
are shown in this window.
Icon Sets

•  Using an Icon set adds picture

icons to cells based on the cell
values. There are several preset
options and they are also fully
customizable.
•  The default settings use percent,
but you can also set them to
formula, number or percentile.
•  To customize a selected Icon Set,
go to Manage Rules.
Icon Sets

•  The default settings for the 3 icon

sets are:
1. Greater than or equal to 67%
2. Less than 67% but Greater
than or equal to 33%
3. Less than 33%
Icon Sets

•  The default settings for the 4 icon

sets are:
1. Greater than or equal to 75%
2. Less than 75% but Greater
than or equal to 50%
3. Less than 50% but Greater
than or equal to 25%
4. Less than 25%
Icon Sets
•  The default settings for the 5 icon
sets are:

1. Greater than or equal to 80%

2. Less than 80% but Greater than
or equal to 60%
3. Less than 60% but Greater than
or equal to 40%
4. Less than 40% but Greater than
or equal to 20%
5. Less than 20%
Icon Sets

Icons can be displayed in the cell next

to the cell contents, or they can be the
only thing that displays in the cell.

Check the Show Icon Only box to

hide the cell contents.
Clear Rules
To clear the conditional formatting
rules, select the Clear Rules option at
the bottom of the Conditional
Formatting drop down box.

You can clear the rules from certain

cells or the entire worksheet at once.

To update the details of any of the set

conditional formats, go to Manage
Rules.