Say you want to see, at a glance, what tasks in a list are late. In other words, those tasks with due date dates before today. Or which tasks aren’t due for a week or more. Watch this video to learn how.
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Apply conditional formatting to quickly analyze data
I want to see at a glance what tasks in the list are late. In other words, those tasks with the due date before today.
I select the cells in the Due date column, click the Quick Analysis button, click Less Than.
I could type today's date, but I’d have to update the conditional formatting every day.
That would get tedious really fast. Instead, I type the TODAY function, which returns today’s date.
Equals sign, TODAY, opening parenthesis, and a closing parenthesis.
I am going to leave the formatting set to the default red option, and click OK.
Tasks that are overdue show in red and are easy to pick out at a glance.
I also want to see tasks that aren’t due for a week or more. These tasks are in good shape.
Configuring conditional formatting for this is similar to what we did for overdue tasks, except I click Greater Than, I type the TODAY function, a plus sign, and 7.
In other words, a week from today.
Notice that there are many formatting options, including Custom Format.
I’ll select the green option, and click OK.
Tasks that aren’t due for a week or more show in green.
I’d like to see at a glance what tasks are coming due over the next week, so I can keep a close eye on them.
Quick Analysis doesn’t have this option, so I click the Conditional Formatting button on the HOME tab where there is this option.
Point to Highlight Cell Rules, and click Between.
In the left date field, I type the TODAY function.
In the right date field, I type the TODAY function, a plus sign, and 7.
I select the yellow formatting option, and click OK.
Tasks that are due within seven days are formatted in yellow.
Now I have a list of tasks that, at a glance, I can see how they are doing against the schedule.
Up next, Conditionally formatting text.
