Color scales

Most tables contain a mix of values, and applying a heat map to an entire table typically produces tables with wildly varying ranges. The pivot table editor includes the menu option Color Scales, which provides heat map style settings that display selected table cells in varying colors based on the cell values.

Specifying color scale values

  1. Double-click the pivot table to activate it.
  2. Select the cells that you want to represent in a heat map style color format (you must select at least two cells).
  3. Right-click anywhere in the selected cell area and select Color Scales from the menu.
  4. The Color Scales dialog provides the following settings.
    Use absolute value
    When selected, negative values are treated as positive values. The setting is enabled by default.
    Low color value
    Sets the low value color. Click the color picker to select a color. The number values next to the field indicate the selected color's RBG value.
    High color value
    Sets the high value color. Click the color picker to select a color. The number values next to the field indicate the selected color's RBG value.
  5. Click OK after selecting the color scale settings. The selected pivot table cells display in a color range that falls between the selected low and high color values.
    Note: Click Reset to set the color scale settings to their default values.