How to use conditional formatting in Excel to visually explore, analyze, and identify patterns and trends.

You can use conditional formatting to highlight cells that contain values that meet a certain condition, or format a whole cell range and vary the exact format as the value of each cell varies.

Select the range of cells, the table, or the whole sheet that you want to apply conditional formatting to. On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting, and then click New Rule.

This can help you see patterns and relationships in the data that might be hard to spot otherwise. This video demonstrates adding some simple conditional formatting rules to highlight certain ranges of …

Use conditional formatting to find and highlight duplicate data. That way you can review the duplicates and decide if you want to remove them. Select the cells you want to check for duplicates. Note: Excel …

Use formulas in conditional formatting to do more than you can with the built-in rules. For example, format blank cells, or see which salespeople are selling above average, or track who has received …

Conditional formatting is a way to make email messages in Outlook stand out when they meet conditions defined by you. When you specify conditions that an incoming message should meet, such as a …

Select the range of cells, the table, or the whole sheet that you want to apply conditional formatting to. On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting. Point to Icon Sets, and then click the icon set that …

If you'd like to give your calendar a brighter, more visually dynamic look, you can use conditional formatting to color-code your appointments and meetings based on sender, location, or whether the …

To apply the same formatting rules to multiple columns or fields, hold down the CTRL key and click each one until they are all selected. On the Format tab, click Conditional Formatting.