Excel 2010

Conditional formatting presets

Excel has a number of presets you can use to quickly apply conditional formatting to your cells. They are grouped into three categories:

• Data Bars are horizontal bars added to each cell, much like a bar graph.
  Data Bars
• Color Scales change the color of each cell based on its value. Each color scale uses a two- or three-color gradient. For example, in the Green - Yellow - Red color scale, the highest values are green, the average values are yellow, and the lowest values are red.
  Color Scales
• Icon Sets add a specific icon to each cell based on its value.
  Icon Sets

To use preset conditional formatting:

1. Select the cells you want to add the formatting to.
2. In the Home tab, click the Conditional Formatting command. A drop-down menu will appear.
3. Select Data Bars, Color Scales, or Icon Sets (Data Bars, for example). Then select the desired preset.
   Selecting a formatting preset
4. The conditional formatting will be applied to the selected cells.
   The finished Data Bars