Conditional formatting in Pivot Tables

Today I am going to speak about a small problem that happens when you are trying to apply
conditional formatting on Pivot Tables. It’s not complex rather its nifty!

Consider this Pivot Table..

We have Product Category, Product ID and its Sales. What if I ask you to make it a little fancy
and apply conditional formatting (data bars) on it ?

Applying Conditional Formatting on Pivot Tables – Wrong Way!

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 1. Now if you selected the sales column of the Pivot Table
2. Went to Conditional Formatting
3. And applied a Data Bars on it
4. That ne but the process isn’t complete yet and you are missing out on an additional step
 

Applying Conditional Formatting on Pivot Tables – Right Way!

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 1. Select the sales column of the Pivot Table
2. Conditional Formatting
3. Apply Data Bars on it
4. Don’t forget to – Click the little icon at the bottom of the data selected and apply the formatting
rule to the Pivot Fields
 

What di erence does it make?

1. If you don’t do the last step – Conditional Formatting is applied on the cells selected rather than
on Pivot Table Fields
2. In case your pivot table structure changes, your formatting will go for a toss. Because your
formatting was applied to the cells and not to the Pivot Table Fields
 

Little Nuances!
1. You might have noticed that there were 3 options available when you clicked on the drop down
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 Selected Cells – Will apply the formatting to selected cells only
All cells showing “Total Sales” values – Conditional Formatting will be applied to Total Sales
irrespective of the pivot table structure. For eg – As of now we have Category, Product ID
and Sales, even if you remove the Product ID from the pivot, the formatting will remain
intact on the sales
All cells showing “Total Sales” values for “Product ID” – If you remove  product ID from the
Pivot, the formatting on sales will disappear. Because the formatting is applied on “Sales
for Product ID” and not the standalone “Sales” Field
2. This option will appear for all the built in Conditional Formatting features (Highlight Cells, Top
Bottom Rules, Colors, Data Bars, Icons etc..) when applied on the Pivot Table
3. Just in case you lose the drop down, you can still change the formatting options from the Edit
Rule Dialogue box

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DOWNLOAD THE EXCEL FILE USED HERE (https://www.goodly.co.in/wp-

content/uploads/2017/08/Conditional-Formatting-in-Pivot-Tables.xlsx)

Which method do you use ?

Have you been using the conditional formatting correctly? Let me know in the comments

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SALEH FARAJ
− ⚑
2 months ago
 2 months ago
Thanks a lot .This post solved a big problem for me. I really appreciate your effort.
1△ ▽ Reply

Chandeep > SALEH FARAJ

− ⚑
2 months ago

Glad it helped :)
△ ▽ Reply

GraH
− ⚑
a year ago

During a training session this year, some-one told me she was colouring all individual cells of a
pivot. I almost suffered from an instant heart attack. So a few weeks later, after a full recovery
from this chock, I posted a similar tutorial @ work.
△ ▽ Reply

Chandeep > GraH

a year ago
− ⚑

hahaha... There are moments when nerds do get an attack especially when people do arduous
work for no reason
Bro why don't you write some of your nifty tricks on Goodly. I would love to have your post
published!! :)
△ ▽ Reply

GraH > Chandeep

a year ago
− ⚑

Too much honour dude! It is very hard to find topics that aren't yet described by some-one
else. I'm more of a re-tweeter :-)
Yet though, I once inspired Chandoo to write a topic about bikers on a hill. So sometimes I do
get creative. I'll send you a suggestion by mail on combining 2 topics
you write about on your blog: Excel and PowerPoint.
△ ▽ Reply

Chandeep > GraH

a year ago
− ⚑

Sure.. Look forward to it!

△ ▽ Reply

GraH > Chandeep

a year ago
− ⚑

Just give me some (extra) time... Holidays are over and already rather busy.
△ ▽ Reply

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