Color scales

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 visualize and compare values in a table quickly. 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 the Create Rule section to get started. Once the rule is created and you can see the Conditional Formatting side panel, follow the steps below.

1. Color scales

Choose 'Color scale' in the Format by dropdown.

Color scale option

Let's look at the customization options for color scales.

1.1. Based on

Let's apply formatting to the Sales measure based on the Profit. Select the profit measure from the Based on dropdown. the higher the profit, the darker the shade of blue applied to the sales measure.

1.2. Color scale for

You can apply color scales to cell backgrounds, fonts, data bars, action dots, and bubble charts.

Color scale for background

Color scale for font

Color scale for data bars when there are positive and negative values

Color scale for data bars with gradient

Color scale for bubble charts

Color scale for action dots

1.3. Heat map type

The heat map can be applied at row, column or table level.

• Column-wise: The maximum and minimum values in a column are formatted using the darkest and lightest gradients.

• Row-wise: The maximum and minimum values in a row are formatted using the darkest and lightest gradients.

• Table-wise: Similar values are formatted using the same gradient throughout the table.

Column wise heatmap

Row wise heatmap

Table wise heatmap

1.4. Color scale type

Choose from a range of color scale types like Sequential, Diverging, Qualitative, Continuous, etc. You can also create color scales by selecting the custom option - we'll look at this in a later section.

Sequential color scale

Diverging color scale

Qualitative color scale

Continuous color scale

Continuous diverging color scale

Custom color scale

1.5. Color scheme

Choose from a range of built-in color schemes for each color scale type.

Color schemes for diverging

Color schemes for sequential

1.6. Min/max/center

For color scales of types Continuous-Range, Continuous-Diverging Range, Continuous, and Continuous-Diverging, you can define the min/max and center color if applicable.

Min, max and center colors

1.7. Custom color scale

The 'Custom' color scale type can be used to define custom color ranges. On selecting the custom option, you can see the fields highlighted in the image. You can define the values/percentages for the ranges, add or delete ranges, define colors, and reverse the order.

Custom color scale

1.8. 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. Check the Reverse color checkbox to flip the colors.

Reverse color disabled

Reverse color enabled

1.9. Number of bands

By default, the number of bands is defined as 5. But it can be increased or decreased by changing the number in the textbox. The color scheme field also gets updated to show the gradients.

Number of bands

1.10. Hide value

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

Hide values

1.11. 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. But it can be turned off if not required by unchecking the Auto font color checkbox.

When the Auto font color option is disabled, notice how some of the values in darker shaded cells are not visible.

Auto font color disabled

1.12. Include null

In cases where there are null values in your table, you can choose whether to include or exclude them from conditional formatting.

Include null