Conditional Formatting with Multiple Conditions in Excel

Conditional formatting in Excel allows you to format cells based on specific conditions or rules. You can create multiple conditions to apply different formatting styles to cells that meet various criteria. This is particularly useful when you want to highlight data that meets certain conditions or identify trends and patterns in your data.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to apply conditional formatting with multiple conditions in Excel:

1. Select the range of cells you want to apply conditional formatting to.
2. Click on the "Home" tab in the Excel ribbon.
3. In the "Styles" group, click on the "Conditional Formatting" button.
4. Hover over "Highlight Cells Rules" or "Top/Bottom Rules" to see various conditions you can apply (like Greater Than, Less Than, Between, Equal To, Text that Contains, A Date Occurring, Duplicate Values, etc.).
5. Click on the condition you want to apply. This will open a dialog box where you can customize the condition and formatting.
6. Set the criteria for the condition and choose the formatting style you want to apply. Click "OK" to apply the first condition.
7. To add another condition, repeat steps 3-6. Each new condition will be added to the list of rules in the "Conditional Formatting Rules Manager".
8. If you have overlapping rules or want to change the order of the rules, use the "Conditional Formatting Rules Manager". Click on "Conditional Formatting" in the "Home" tab, then click on "Manage Rules".
9. In the "Conditional Formatting Rules Manager", you can view all the rules applied to the selected range of cells. You can edit, delete, or change the order of the rules by clicking the "Move Up" or "Move Down" buttons.
10. Once you're done setting up your conditions, click "OK" in the "Conditional Formatting Rules Manager" to apply the changes.

Example

Let's say you have a dataset containing the sales performance of various employees, and you want to apply conditional formatting to highlight sales above $10,000 and sales below $5,000.

1. Select the range of cells containing the sales data.
2. Go to the "Home" tab and click on "Conditional Formatting".
3. Hover over "Highlight Cells Rules" and click on "Greater Than".
4. In the "Greater Than" dialog box, set the value to 10000 and choose a formatting style (e.g., green fill). Click "OK".
5. Again, click on "Conditional Formatting" and hover over "Highlight Cells Rules". This time, click on "Less Than".
6. In the "Less Than" dialog box, set the value to 5000 and choose a different formatting style (e.g., red fill). Click "OK".

Now, the cells with sales above $10,000 will be highlighted in green, and the cells with sales below $5,000 will be highlighted in red.