Add conditional highlighting to cells

You can have Keynote change a cell’s appearance when the value in the cell meets certain conditions. For example, you can make cells turn red if they contain a negative number. To change the appearance of a cell based on its cell value, create a conditional highlighting rule.

Add a conditional highlighting rule

  1. Select one or more cells.

  2. Click the Cell tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar on the right, or it doesn’t have a Cell tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Click Conditional Highlighting, then click Add a Rule.

  4. Click a type of rule (for example, if your cell value will be a date, select Dates), then click a rule.

    Scroll to see more options.

    Tabs for Number, Text, Dates, Durations, and Blank rule types
  5. Enter values for the rule.

    For example, if you selected the rule “date is after,” enter values to specify what date the date in the cell must come after.

    Click Cell reference button to use a cell reference. A cell reference lets you compare the cell’s value to another cell—so, for example, you can highlight a cell when its value is greater than another cell’s. Click a cell to select it, or enter its table address (for example, F1).

    After you add a cell reference, you can choose whether a cell reference is relative or absolute. Click the arrow on the token then select Preserve Row or Preserve Column. For more information, go to Calculate values using data in table cells.

  6. Click the pop-up menu, then choose a style.

    You can choose Custom Style to choose your own font color, font weight, and cell fill.

  7. Click Done.

Note: If a cell matches multiple rules, its appearance changes according to the first rule in the list. To reorder rules, click the small icon to the left of a rule name, then drag the rule up or down in the order.

Repeat a conditional highlighting rule

The easiest way to add a rule to multiple cells is to select those cells, then add the rule. However, if you already added a rule to a cell and you want to apply that rule to other cells, you can combine highlighting rules.

  1. Select the cell with the rule you want to repeat and the cells you want to add the rule to.

  2. Click the Cell tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar on the right, or it doesn’t have a Cell tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Click Show Highlighting Rules, then click Combine Rules.

To delete a rule, select the cell or range of cells with the rule you want to delete. In the Cell tab of the Format sidebar, click Show Highlighting Rules. Move the pointer over the rule, then click Trash button in the top-right corner.

Note: If a cell matches multiple rules, its appearance changes according to the first rule in the list. You can drag to reorder rules.