Conditional Formatting to Visualize Data

Contents
Conditional Formatting ........................................................................................................................................................... 1
Built-in features to Conditional Formatting ............................................................................................................................ 2
Example 1: Built-in Feature: Cell Contains .............................................................................................................................. 5
Example 3: Built Below Average ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Example 5: Built Top 3 values .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Example 6: Logical Formula: Highlight Records that contain the top 3 values ..................................................................... 10
Example 7: Built Data Bars ............................................................................................................................................... 10
Example 8: Built-in Feature: Color Scales (Heat Map) .......................................................................................................... 11
Example 9: Built Icons ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Example 10: Logical Formula: Format Whole Column Based on a condition ....................................................................... 12
Example 11: Logical Formula: Format with complex criteria (AND Logical Test) ................................................................. 13

Conditional Formatting
1) Conditional Formatting for cells in a highlighted range requires a logical test that comes out TRUE or
FALSE.
• TRUE = Cell gets Formatting.
• FALSE = Cell NOT get Formatting.
2) Conditional Formatting can be applied to cells with:
• Built-in features like:
1. Contains a value
2. Top 3 values
3. Above Average
4. Data Bars
5. Color Scales (Heat Map)
6. Icons
• Logical Formulas:
1. Highlight Row (Record) where cell contains a value.
2. Highlight Row (Record) where sales are below average.
3. Highlight Records that contain the top 3 values.
4. Format Whole Column Based on a condition.
5. Format with complex criteria (AND Logical Test).
6. Format with complex criteria (OR Logical Test).

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 7. Format Weekends and Holidays.
8. Format items NOT in List.

Apply Conditional Formatting:

1) Home Ribbon Tab, Styles group, Conditional Formatting button:

2) Keyboards:
• Keyboard for New Format Rule dialog box:
Alt, H, L, N
• Keyboard for Manage Rule dialog box:
Alt, O, D
• Keyboard to delete rule:
Alt, O, D, D, Enter
• Keyboard to get to “Format values where this formula is true”:
1. Alt, H, L, N, PageDown, Tab
Built-in features to Conditional Formatting
Steps:
1) Highlight cells
2) Home Ribbon Tab, Styles group, Conditional Formatting button
3) Select Rule
4) Choose formatting

Built-in Conditional Formatting Options:

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Logical Formulas:
1) Logical Formulas are formulas that evaluate to TRUE or FALSE 2)
For Conditional Formatting:
• Formatting IS Applied when the formula evaluates to:
1. TRUE
2. Any non-zero number
• Formatting is NOT Applied when the formula evaluates to:
1. FALSE
2. Zero
3. Error
3) When you use Logical Formulas to apply Conditional Formatting:
• Formula has to calculate in every cell in the range!!!
• Rule to minimize calculation time:
1. Choose formulas that calculate quickly.
2. Use Helper Cells for sub-calculations so that the Conditional Formatting Logical Formula
don’t have to run the sub-calculation in every cell in the Conditional Formatting range.
4) Array Formulas work in the Conditional Formatting dialog box (without using Ctrl + Shift + Enter), but
should be avoided if overall spreadsheet calculation time is an issue.

Steps in Creating Conditional Formatting with Formulas:

1) Highlight the range of cells. Make a metal note of which cell is the active cell in the highlighted
2) range. (The active cell is the light-colored cell.)
3) Open the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog (from the Home Ribbon tab, select the Styles
group and then select Manage Rules from the Conditional Formatting drop-down).

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 4) Open the New Formatting Rule dialog box (by clicking the New Rule button).
5) Select Use a Formula to Determine Which Cells to Format from the "Select a Rule Type" list.
6) Click the Format Values Where This Formula Is True text box.
7) Create your formula from the point of view of the active cell in the highlighted range. That is, build the
formula as if you were placing it into the active cell and then copying it down and over. Remember,
whatever the conditional test is that you are creating must be evaluated for each cell to determine
whether each cell in the range gets the formatting. So, even if the formula is not actually going into the
active cell, the dialog box will copy it throughout the range in memory as if the formula were in the cells
in the highlighted range.
8) Click the Format button and select any combination of formatting you want from the four tabs (Number,
Font, Border, and Fill).
9) Click OK in the Format Cells dialog box.
10) Click OK in the New Formatting Rule dialog box.
11) Click OK in the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager dialog box.

Conditional Formatting is Volatile: it Recalculates Often and can Slow Overall

Spreadsheet Calculation Time.
1) Conditional Formatting is recalculated for cells that are visible on the screen Large screens have more
cells to calculate than small screens.
• Zoomed out has more cells to calculate than zoomed in.
• Scrolling up or down causes Conditional Formatting to recalculate.
2) Conditional Formatting is recalculated when actions occur such as:
• Entering a formula.
• Inserting a column.
• Recalculating with the F9 key.
3) Conditional Formatting created with Logical Formulas slows down calculation in two ways:
1. Recalculation (like scrolling or entering a formula) 2.
Formula has to calculate before formatting is applied.
4) When you use Logical Formulas to apply Conditional Formatting:
• Choose formulas that calculate quickly
• Use Helper Cells for sub-calculations so that the Conditional Formatting Logical Formula don’t
have to run the sub-calculation in every cell in the Conditional Formatting range.

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Example 1: Built-in Feature: Cell Contains
Visual Steps for using Built-in Conditional Formatting Feature
Steps:
1) Highlight range and go to Home Ribbon Tab, Styles group, Conditional Formatting button, Highlight Cells
Rule, Equal to:

2) Enter cell with criteria into Equals To dialog box:

3) You can change the default Formatting by clicking “with” textbox and choosing “Custom Format”:

4) Result:

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Example 2: Logical Formula: Highlight Row (Record) where cell contains a value.
Visual Steps for Conditional Formatting with a Formula.
1) Start by building Formula in cells to test the pattern of TRUEs and FALSEs:

2) Highlight entire range and make sure the active cell is in the upper corner.

3) Home Ribbon Tab, Styles

group,
Conditional Formatting button, select
New Rule (keyboard: Alt, H, L, N)

4) In the “New Formatting Rule” dialog box,

select “Use a Formula to determine which
cells to format”

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 •
5) Create your Logical Formula in the “Format values where this formula is true” text box.

6) Be sure to click Format Button and add the formatting you would like.

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7) Result:

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 -in Feature:
Example 3: Built Below Average

Example 4: Logical Formula: Highlight Row (Record) where sales are below average.

Note:
• AVERAGE function had to calculate in every cell!
• This can slow down calculation in spreadsheet if:
1. Ranges are large.
2. There are many formulas.

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 -in Feature:
3. There are many different types of conditional formatting.

Example 5: Built Top 3 values

Example 6: Logical Formula: Highlight Records that contain the top 3 values

Note:
• LARGE function does NOT have to calculate in every cell in the Conditional Formatting range.
• Advantage to using a helper cell to calculate sub-calculations is that when the spreadsheet recalculates,
only one cell has to calculate the LARGE value.

Example 7: Built Data Bars

1) Data Bars creates an “In-Cell Bar Chart”.
• Max = Longest Bar.
• Min = Shortest Bar. 2) Example:

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 -in Feature:

Example 8: Built-in Feature: Color Scales (Heat Map)

1) Color Scale = Ranks number by color.
2) 3 colors:
• Red = bottom 1/3 of values, Darkest Red = Min.
• White = middle 1/3 of values, White = Mid-point (Median).
• Blue = top 1/3 values, Darkest Blue = Max. 3) Example:

Example 9: Built Icons

1) Icons = can divide numbers into 3, groups (Top, middle, bottom)

2) SIGN function delivers:

• Delivers -1 when number is negative.

• Delivers 0 when number is zero.

• Delivers 1 when number is positive.

3) Example:

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 -in Feature:

Example 10: Logical Formula: Format Whole Column Based on a condition

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Example 11: Logical Formula: Format with complex criteria (AND Logical Test)
1) AND Logical Test with AND function: