Conditionally formatted data: Examples and guidelines

In Excel 2010, conditional formatting has been improved.
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Enhancements to conditional formatting are a popular feature in Microsoft Excel. Analyzing data has never been more interesting and colorful. Now, you can track trends, check status, spot data, and find top values like never before.

We've provided a workbook full of examples and guidelines to help you get up-to-speed. Here's a summary of what's in the workbook.

Rule Type	Description
Cell value	Identify specific numbers, dates, and text in a list of products
Cell value (with formula)	Identify a dynamically changed number or text value in a list of products
Top/bottom values Above/below average	Identify top, bottom, and above average values in a recent book tour report
Top/bottom values	Determine who are the top two students in the class
Unique/duplicate	Find duplicate rows in a list of customers
Icon set	Quickly see revenue status and trends from one quarter to the next
Icon set	Compare different product criteria by using a rating scale
Icon set	Examine profit trends from month to month
Icon set	Identify regional sales below $900,000
Data bars	Compare heights of the tallest mountains
3 color scale	Examine overall sales distributions in key product categories
Formula-based	Shade alternate rows in a range
Formula-based	Compare data in a cell outside the conditionally formatted range of cells
Formula-based	Shade an entire row where several criteria must be true
Formula-based	Shade an entire row if the row is a unique value

To download the workbook, do the following:

Important: The following workbook requires Microsoft Excel 2007 or Microsoft Excel 2010.

1. Click the link Conditional Formatting Samples.

2. In the File Download dialog box, click Save.

   Note: Do not click Open because doing so will display a warning message and open a read-only version of the workbook.

3. In the Save As dialog box, click Save.

4. When the file download is complete, click Open.