Chapter 20: Visualizing Data Using Conditional Formatting
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l (^) Show the bar only (hide the numbers).
l Specify Minimum and Maximum values for the scaling.
l (^) Change the appearance of the bars.
l Specify how negative values and the axis is handled.
l (^) Specify the direction of the bars.
Note
Oddly, the colors used for data bars are not theme colors. If you apply a new document theme, the data bar
colors do not change. n
Using data bars in lieu of a chart
Using the data bars conditional formatting can sometimes serve as a quick alternative to creating a
chart. Figure 20.5 shows a three-column table of data (created by using Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table),
with data bars conditional formatting applied in the third column. The third column of the table
contains references to the values in the second column. The conditional formatting in the third col-
umn uses the Show Bars Only option, so the values are not displayed.
FIGURE 20.5
This table uses data bars conditional formatting.
Figure 20.6 shows an actual bar chart created from the same data. The bar chart takes about the
same amount of time to create and is a lot more flexible. But for a quick-and-dirty chart, data bars
are a good option — especially when you need to create several such charts.
Using color scales
The color scale conditional formatting option varies the background color of a cell based on the cell’s
value, relative to other cells in the range.