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Analyzing large amounts of data to find trends and variances is a time-consuming process, especially if you have to format the information for review by other teams. With conditional formatting (conditional format: A format, such as cell shading or font color, that Excel automatically applies to cells if a specified condition is true.) in Microsoft Office Excel 2003, you can quickly draw attention to variances by applying automatic formatting based on parameters that you set.

For example, you can automatically highlight the departments that are meeting the revenue quota in green and use red to call attention to expenses that are over budget. This color coding makes it easy for anyone to scan the information and quickly find areas that need attention.

Add conditional formatting

1. Select the cells for which you want to add conditional formatting.
2. On the Format menu, click Conditional Formatting.

3. Do one of the following:

   • To use values in the selected cells as the formatting criteria, click Cell Value Is, select the comparison phrase, and then type a constant (constant: A value that is not calculated. For example, the number 210 and the text "Quarterly Earnings" are constants. An expression, or a value resulting from an expression, is not a constant.) value or a formula. If you enter a formula, start it with an equal sign (=).
   • To use a formula as the formatting criteria (to evaluate data or a condition other than the values in selected cells), click Formula Is and then enter the formula that evaluates to a logical value of TRUE or FALSE.
4. Click Format.
5. Select the formatting you want to apply when the cell value meets the condition or the formula returns the value TRUE.

6. To add another condition, click Add, and then repeat steps 3 through 5.

   You can specify up to three conditions. If none of the specified conditions are true, the cells keep their existing formats.

    Note   If you are using multiple conditions, Excel applies only the formats of the first true condition, even if more than one condition is true.

Copy conditional formatting

1. Select the cells that have the conditional formatting you want to copy.
2. On the Formatting toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.), click Format Painter .
3. Select the cells you want to format, and click Format Painter again.

Change conditional formatting

1. Select the cells that have the conditional formatting you want to change.
2. On the Format menu, click Conditional Formatting.
3. Click the format button for the condition you want to change, and then change the format.

Remove conditional formatting

1. Select the cells for which you want to remove conditional formatting.
2. On the Format menu, click Conditional Formatting.
3. Click Delete, and then select the check box for the conditions you want to delete.