What is conditional formatting?

Conditional formatting allows you to specify formatting based on the value within the cell.

For example on the weekly rotas you may wish to highlight staff who have worked more than 35 hours in red.  (The shaded cells in example opposite).

You could do this manually, but you need to remember to update the formatting as you change the values in the cells.  Use conditional formatting and the formatting will change automatically as the values in the cells are amended.

How do I use conditional formatting?

The example below illustrates how to highlight cells containing a value greater than 35.

1. Select the cell range to which you wish to add the conditional formatting.
2. In the ‘Home’ ribbon, click the ‘Conditional Formatting’ drop down menu button.
3. Click ‘Highlight Cells Rules’.
4. Click ‘Greater Than...’ to display the 'Greater Than' dialogue box.

5. Enter a value in the ‘Format cells that are GREATER THAN: box’.
6. Use the ‘with’ drop down menu to decide how to format cells containing values greater than the value specified in step 5.
7. Click ‘OK’.