Conditional formatting is used to change the appearance of cells in a range based on your specified conditions. The conditions are rules based on specified numerical values or matching text. Changing the appearance of cells can visually highlight interesting data points for analysis.
It can help make patterns and trends in your data more apparent. To use it, you create rules that determine the format of cells based on their values, such as the following monthly temperature data with cell colors tied to cell values. Steps for Conditional Formatting:
- Select the desired cells for the conditional formatting rule.
- From the Home tab, click the Conditional Formatting command. A drop-down menu will appear.
- Hover the mouse over the desired conditional formatting type, then select the desired rule from the menu that appears.
- A dialog box will appear. Enter the desired value(s) into the blank field.
- Select a formatting style from the drop-down menu.
- The conditional formatting will be applied to the selected cells.
You can apply multiple conditional formatting rules to a cell range or worksheet, allowing you to visualize different trends and patterns in your data.