# Color scale & Data bars Another commonly used type of conditional formatting is the **Color Scale**, which applies a gradient fill to a range of cells based on their values. This is a useful way to quickly visualize and compare values in a table. Color scales can be applied to the background, font color, or data bars. It can also be applied row-wise, column-wise, or table-wise. Refer to [create rule](https://docs.inforiver.com/working-with-inforiver/5.-conditional-formatting/create-rule-writeback-matrix) to get started. Once the rule is created and you can see the conditional formatting side panel, follow the steps below. Select **Color scale** in the **Format by** dropdown.

Let's go with the default options. Click Apply. The color scale is applied to the cell background color of the measure selected in the **Apply to** field.

Let's explore the configuration options for color scales. #### **1. Based on** Let's apply formatting for 2021 Actuals based on the absolute variance between AC and PL. Select **2021 Actuals - 2021 Plan** from the **Based on** dropdown. Click Apply.

Conditional formatting based on a different measure

Let's hide the 2021 Plan column and show only the variance column. Click on **Manage Columns** and check/uncheck the checkboxes as highlighted.

Enabling the 2021 Actuals - 2021 Plan column

Notice how, **International – EMEA – Tea & Coffee** is displayed in a darker shade due to a higher positive variance, while **United States – East – Juices** is prominently highlighted because of a substantial negative variance.

Conditional formatting for 2021 Actuals based on absolute variance AC vs PL

#### 2. Color scale for Now, let's apply a color scale to the font. Select **Font** in the **Color scale for** dropdown. Click Apply.

You can see that the font for 2021 Actuals is formatted sequentially based on the variance.

#### **3. Heat map type** Notice that the formatting is applied column-wise. That is, the maximum and minimum values in a column are formatted using the darkest and lightest gradients.

The image below shows table-wise formatting. Notice that similar values are formatted using the same gradient throughout the table.

#### **4. Color scale type** Inforiver Table supports different types of color scales such as Sequential, Diverging, Qualitative, Continuous, etc. You can click on the **Color scale type** dropdown to view the entire list. Let's apply a **Diverging** color scale. Select from the dropdown and click Apply.

You can see that the backgrounds are formatted using the Diverging scale.

Below is an example where the Continuous-Range scale is used.

#### **5 Colors** **5.1. Color scheme** For color scales of types Sequential, Diverging, Diverging-color safe, Qualitative, and Qualitative-color safe, there are several default color schemes to choose from. You can click on the **Color scheme** dropdown and choose the desired color scheme.

**5.2. Min/max/center** For color scales of types Continuous-Range, Continuous-Diverging Range, Continuous, and Continuous-Diverging, you can define the min/max colors, and the center color when applicable.

**5.3. Custom color scale** The **Custom** color scale type can be used to define custom color ranges based on value or percentage. On selecting the custom option, you can see the fields highlighted in the image below. You can define the values/percentages for the ranges, add or delete ranges, define colors, and reverse the order. Changes can also be reset to default.

**5.4. Reverse color** Color scales can be reversed for cases where the minimum and maximum values need to be denoted with the highest and lowest gradients. To achieve this, check the **Reverse color** checkbox.

**5.5. Number of bands** By default, the number of bands is defined as 5. But it can be increased or decreased using the **Number of bands** field. The color scheme field also gets updated to show the gradients.

**5.6. Hide value** You can choose to show only the color scale and hide the values. To do this, check the **Hide value** checkbox.

**5.7. Auto font color** When you apply background conditional formatting in Inforiver, the font colors are automatically adjusted to be in contrast with their backgrounds to enhance readability. It can be turned off if not required by unchecking the **Auto font color** checkbox.

**5.8. Include null** In cases where there are null values in your table, you can choose whether to include or exclude them from conditional formatting. In the image below, the 2024 Actuals measure has null values. To apply conditional formatting for these cells as well, check the **Include null** checkbox.

The color scale is applied to cells with null values

Conditional formatting is applied only to non-null cells

### Data bars In the previous section, we covered color scales for fonts and backgrounds. In this section, we'll look at data bars. Note that you can either create a new rule as shown here or edit the data bars inserted using the one-click option explained [here](https://docs.inforiver.com/working-with-inforiver/5.-conditional-formatting/one-click-options_old#4.-data-bars). **STEP 1:** Select **Data bars** in the **Color scale for** dropdown.

**STEP 2:** In the side panel, you can see the customization options available.

**STEP 3:** Let's go with the default settings. Click Apply. The data bar gets added as shown in the below image.

**STEP 4:** Let's now look at each of the customization options. Check the **Hide value** checkbox and click Apply. You can now see only the data bars and the values are hidden.

**STEP 5:** By default, the data bars are applied to all the values (values and totals if selected in the row hierarchy levels). If you only want to use data bars for a particular range of values, you can enter a minimum and maximum value as shown in the below image. Data bars are enabled only for values between 8m and 20m in this case.

**STEP 6:** Data bars can be aligned left or right using the **Alignment** field. Right alignment is shown in this example.

**STEP 7:** Note that when there are positive and negative values in the column for which you want to use data bars, the options differ as shown in the below image. You can choose to hide the values and select colors for positive and negative values.