Lab # 04 MS Excel Conditional Formatting

Objectives
• Recognize Excel’s operations and tools;
• Conditional Formatting.
Software Used
Microsoft Excel Software
Pre Lab
Formatting in Excel allows you to change the appearance of cells or the appearance of
the spreadsheet as a whole.
To Create a Table from the Home Tab:
1. Select the range of cells to include in the table.
2. Select Format as Table.
3. Follow the steps listed above to create a table.

Adjust the Table Style

Select the table, and choose the Table Style located on the Design tab.

Creating or Deleting a Custom Table Style

To Create a Custom Table:
1. Select your data
2. Choose Format as Table.
3. Select New Table Style at the bottom of the dropdown menu.

The New Table Quick Style dialogue box will appear.

4. Select any of the table elements to format the table as desired.

The Preview box allows you to view the table before completing formatting changes. Select
OK to apply the table to your data.

To Set this Table as a Default Table:

1. Select the Set as default table quick style for this document option
To Delete a Custom Style:
1. Select Format as Table.
2. Find the custom style located within the Custom section
3. Right click on the style, select Delete

Removing a Table Style

To Remove a Table Style from and Existing Table:
1. Select the contents of the table.
2. Choose the More button.

3. Choose Clear.

This will clear the table style but the data will still remain in a table format.
Converting a Table to a Range of Data
To Convert an Existing Table to a Range of Data:
1. Select the table.
2. Select Convert to Range.
3. Select Yes.

Formatting Table Elements

To Format the Elements of a Table Style:
1. Select the contents of the table.
2. Table Style Options contains various table formatting
options.

3. Select the desired checkboxes to change the format of the

table.
Header Row – Creates a row at the top of the table for
headers.
Total Row – Creates a row at the bottom of the table populates a total sum for each column.
Banded Rows – Shades every other row in the table.
First Column – Shades the entire first column the same color as the header row.
Last Column – Shades the entire last column the same color as the header row. Banded
Columns – Shades every other column in the table.
Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting allows you to change the appearance of a cell,

based on criteria that you define, using predetermined rules in Excel.
Highlight Cells Rules
Using the highlight cells rules, you can highlight cells in your data that are
greater or less than a value, between or equal to a value or contain a
specified or duplicate value.
Greater Than, Less Then and Equal To
To highlight cells which contain data greater than a specific value:
1. Highlight the data range.

2. Select the Conditional Formatting tool

3. Hover over Highlight Cells Rules to reveal the menu of different rules.

4. Select Greater Than from the menu to open the Greater Than dialogue box:

5. Enter the value that you want to set as your lower limit for the Greater Than condition.
 6. Select the type of formatting from the dropdown menu.
7. Select Ok.

The cells which contain a value greater than the value you specified will now appear
with the cell formatting which you selected.

A Date Occurring
To highlight cells that contain a certain date or date range:
1. Highlight the data range.
2. Select Conditional Formatting.

3. Hover over the Highlight Cells Rules.

4. Select A Date Occurring to open the Date Occurring dialogue box.

5. Select the date or date range that you’re looking for.

6. Select the type of cell formatting.
7. Select Ok.

The cells which contain the specified date or date range will now appear with the cell
formatting which you selected.
Duplicate Values
To highlight cells that contain either duplicate or unique values:
1. Highlight the data range.
2. Select Conditional Formatting.

3. Hover over Highlight Cells Rules.

4. Select Duplicate Values to open the Duplicate Values dialogue box.
 5. Select either Duplicate or Unique from the drop down menu.
6. Select the type of cell formatting you wish to use.
7. Select Ok.

The cells which contain either duplicate or unique values will now appear
with the cell formatting which you selected.
Top/Bottom Rules
Top and bottom rules can be used to highlight cells that are the top or bottom ten
items or the top or bottom ten percent. They can also be used to identify items
above or below the average.
Top 10 Items
To highlight cells that are the top 10 items in your data:
1. Highlight your entire data range.

2. Select Conditional Formatting.

3. Hover over Top/Bottom Rules.

4. Select Top 10 Items to open the Top 10 Items dialogue box.

5. Enter the number of items to identify.

6. Select the type of cell formatting you wish to use.
7. Select Ok.

The cells which are in the top selected number will now appear with the cell
formatting which you selected.
To identify the bottom 10 items select Bottom 10 Items instead of Top 10 Items.
Top 10%
To highlight cells that are in the top percentage of items in your data:
1. Highlight the data range.
2. Select Conditional Formatting.

3. Hover over Top/Bottom Rules.

4. Select Top 10% to open the Top 10% dialogue box.

5. Enter the number of items to identify.

6. Select the type of cell formatting you wish to use.
7. Select Ok.

The cells which are in the top selected percentage will now appear with the cell
formatting which you selected.

To identify the bottom 10 percent select Bottom 10 Percent instead of Top 10 Percent.
Above Average
To highlight cells that are above the average value of your data:
1. Highlight the data range.
2. Select Conditional Formatting.

3. Hover over Top/Bottom Rules.

4. Select Above Average to open the Above Average dialogue box:

Select the type of cell formatting you wish to use. Select Ok. The cells which are
above the average value of your data will now appear with the cell formatting which
you selected.

To identify items below the average value select Below Average instead of Above Average.
Data Bars
Conditional formatting in Excel can be used to convert cells with numeric data into a
bar graph. Two bar graph options are gradient and solid filled graphs.

To convert data into a bar graph:

1. Highlight your entire data range.
2. Select Conditional Formatting.
3. Hover over Data Bars.

4. Choose either Gradient or Solid and select a color for the bar graph.
The data cells will now be filled with a gradient color based on the value in the cell.

Color Scales
You can use the Color Scales rules to color the cells in your data based on their
numerical value. Color Scales makes it easier to visualize the data.
To add a color scale to data:
1. Highlight the data range.
2. Select Conditional Formatting.

3. Hover over Color Scales.

4. Select a color scale.

The data cells will now be displayed as a color scale based on the value of the cell.
In-Lab
Lab Task 1
1.

1. Add conditional formats to highlight certain data.

2. Add conditional formats to each column according to the labels on row

3. In each column add a conditional format as described on row 18.

4. Your completed worksheet should look something like this: