Conditional Formatting

“Conditional Formatting” is not new in Excel 2010 but there are new formatting capabilities.
You have the data bars (a) that you can fill with a solid color (1). When you have chosen this option, a negative number will be placed on the left side of the cell.
You have several icons (b). And you have the opportunity to use different types of icons for different rules (c)

Picture Tools

We already know that we can edit pictures in Excel. In Excel 2010, the options for doing so are even more extensive. But here I do not want to talk about these options and leave it up to you to try them.

What I do want to talk about is that we now have the ability to add an imported image to a “Smart Art”. For this, select the image and click the “Picture Layout” button (1) in the ribbon. Next, choose one of the many SmartArts (2) from the pop-up list. You will be able to view the results immediately in the worksheet (3).

When you have added the text in the text box and clicked the Enter key on your keyboard, you will not only have added an extra box (1), but also an extra Photo Tray (2). Click the photo icon in the box to add an additional photo (3). If you wish to add more, select a line of text in the dialog “Enter your text here” (4) and click the Enter key on your keyboard.

Dynamic Smart Arts

Now that we’re at SmartArt, I will show you how to add a SmartArt dynamically.
Actually it’s not just a SmartArt shape that you can add dynamically. Select the SmartArt in the worksheet (1) and select the “Design” tab (2) in the Ribbon and click the “Convert to shapes” button (3). This button is new in Excel 2010.

Now your SmartArt is converted to a shape (4).

Select the text box that you want to make (5) dynamic and type in the formula bar to where you want the cell reference (6). In this case, = B1. You will immediately see the contents of cell B1 appear in the first text box of what once was a SmartArt. The contents of the cell, in this case B1 can be text, numbers or formulas. It does not matter.

Change the contents of cell B1 and automatically the text box in the SmartArt will be adjusted.

Featured Courses

• Downloading iPad Apps
• Lesson 1: Introduction to Publisher
• Lesson 65: File Formats