# Unlocking Insights in Tabular Data with Conditional Formatting and Mini Charts

- Canonical: https://33rdsquare.com/create-conditional-formatting-mini-chart/
- Published: 2024-09-03
- Author: Jordan Brown
- Categories: [Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning & ChatGPT](https://33rdsquare.com/category/tech/ai/)

---

As a business intelligence professional, you likely encounter a lot of data in spreadsheets and tabular reports. While tables are great for organizing information, a sea of numbers can make it difficult to spot trends, identify outliers, and draw meaningful conclusions. That‘s where conditional formatting and mini charts come in.

Conditional formatting and mini charts are powerful tools that allow you to visualize patterns, exceptions and trends right within your tabular data. By applying color, icons, and small charts to individual cells based on their values, you can transform bland tables into insightful and engaging visualizations. This not only makes the data easier to understand at a glance, but helps guide the reader to key takeaways.

In this article, we‘ll take an in-depth look at creating conditional formatting and mini charts in QlikView, a popular business intelligence platform. Whether you‘re a QlikView pro or just getting started with the tool, you‘ll come away with actionable tips for getting more out of your tabular data. We‘ll cover:

- The different types of conditional formatting in QlikView and when to use them
- Step-by-step tutorials (with screenshots) for setting up conditional formatting
- Best practices for choosing colors, icons, and chart types
- Tips for designing effective dashboards and mobile visualizations with conditional formatting
- Inspiring real-world examples of conditional formatting and mini charts in action

By the end of this piece, you‘ll be creating your own powerful conditional formatting and mini chart visualizations in QlikView to take your tabular reporting to the next level. Let‘s dive in!

## Understanding Conditional Formatting in QlikView

Conditional formatting in QlikView allows you to dynamically style the background color, font color, icon, or number format of a cell in a straight table or pivot table based on conditions or rules that you define. For example, you could:

- Highlight cells with values above or below a certain threshold
- Display negative values in red text
- Show an up-arrow icon for values that have increased versus the previous period
- Use a bold font for the top 10 values in a column

There are two main ways to apply conditional formatting in QlikView: using Expression Attributes and Visual Cues. Let‘s look at each method.

### Expression Attributes

Expression Attributes allow you to set a cell‘s background color, font color, or number format based on the value of an expression.

To add an Expression Attribute:

1. Open the properties for your straight table or pivot table and go to the "Expressions" tab
2. Click the plus sign next to "Expression Attributes" and select "Background Color", "Font Color", or "Number Format" from the menu
3. In the Definition field, enter a conditional expression that evaluates to a color or format

For example, to set the background color to green for cells where actual sales exceeds budget, you could use an expression like:

if(sum(Sales) > sum(Budget), green(), white())

This reads: "If the sum of Sales is greater than the sum of Budget, return the color green, otherwise return white".

You can use QlikView‘s built-in color functions (like green()) or specify a hex color code. The if() function is useful for simple either/or conditions, but you can create more complex logic using nested if statements, the alt() function, or the pick() function.

### Visual Cues

Visual Cues are a newer feature in QlikView that provide an alternative way to add conditional icons or background colors to your tables.

To set up Visual Cues:

1. Go to the "Visual Cues" tab in your straight table or pivot table properties
2. Click the checkboxes to enable icons and/or background color
3. Select a field or expression to set the condition for when the formatting should apply
4. Choose an icon set or specify the background colors to use

Visual Cues make it easy to quickly spot highs, lows, and exceptions with standard icon indicators. QlikView includes several built-in icon sets like flags, stars, and traffic lights. One advantage of Visual Cues is that you can apply multiple cues to the same data – for instance, red/yellow/green background shading plus up/down arrow icons.

## Adding Images Based on Conditions

In addition to conditional formatting, QlikView allows you to display a custom image in a table cell based on a condition. This could be useful for showing checkmarks, warning symbols, or other visual indicators.

To add a conditional image:

1. Create an expression that evaluates to the file path of the image you want to display, such as:

if(sum(Sales) > sum(Budget), ‘qmem:///arrow_up.png‘, ‘qmem:///arrow_down.png‘)

1. In the "Expressions" tab, click the image symbol next to your expression and select "Image" as the display format
2. Adjust the image alignment, size, and other settings as needed

When adding images, consider using formatted PNG files with transparency for a clean look. You can reference images stored in your QlikView project folder or linked from a URL.

## Creating Mini Charts with Sparklines

Mini charts (also known as sparklines) are a powerful way to visualize trends or comparisons over time within the confined space of a table cell. A mini chart concisely represents the history of a metric without the need for a separate full-sized chart.

In QlikView, you can add sparklines and small bar charts to straight tables. Here‘s how:

1. Create a straight table with the dimension and expression you want to plot over time
2. Select your measure expression and change the "Display Format" to "Mini Chart"
3. In the "Mini Chart Settings" window, choose the chart type (line, bar, etc.)
4. Set the dimension for the x-axis of your mini chart (e.g. Month for a trend over months)
5. Adjust the chart colors, axis settings, and other formatting options
6. Click "OK" to apply the mini chart

Mini charts are especially impactful for showing performance vs a comparison, like this year‘s sales versus last year‘s sales by month. Be sure to pick a chart type that matches your data – sparklines for trends, bars for discrete comparisons, win/loss for binary outcomes, etc.

## Designing Powerful Dashboards with Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting and mini charts aren‘t just for standalone reports – they can also be used to enhance executive dashboards and increase data density on small-screen devices.

When designing a dashboard with conditional formatting:

- Use color strategically to call out important values. Stick to a few semantically meaningful colors (green for good, red for bad, etc.)
- Provide a legend to define color ranges and icon meanings
- Enable hover text or drill-down for users to access detailed data
- Consider accessibility – check color contrast and support non-visual cues
- Avoid overwhelming users with too many conflicting formats
- Guide the eye with formatting to deliver key insights intuitively

On mobile, mini charts and color scales can help compress large tables into scannable summaries that fit in the palm of your hand. Experiment with responsive grid layouts, collapsible rows, and progressive disclosure to create an optimal small-screen experience.

## Real-World Examples

To further illustrate the power of conditional formatting and mini charts, here are a few examples from real QlikView applications.

This sales dashboard uses red and green shading to compare current performance to targets, with up/down arrows to show trends. Mini bar charts give a snapshot of the 13 week trend for each metric and region. Varying shades of green draw the eye to top-performing products.

![Qlik conditional formatting sales dashboard](https://33rdsquare.com/sales-dashboard.png)

(Source: [https://community.qlik.com/t5/Qlik-Design-Blog/Making-the-most-of-Conditional-Formatting-in-Qlik-Sense/ba-p/1489617](https://community.qlik.com/t5/Qlik-Design-Blog/Making-the-most-of-Conditional-Formatting-in-Qlik-Sense/ba-p/1489617))

This hospital operations dashboard employs red/yellow/green conditional formatting for a quick view of stats compared to normal ranges. Icons flag areas needing attention, while inline mini charts show daily admit and discharge trends.

![hospital operations dashboard with conditional formatting](https://33rdsquare.com/hospital-dashboard.png)

(Source: [https://dataselfserviceanalytics.co.uk/2018/02/23/nhs-emergency-winter-pressures-dashboard/](https://dataselfserviceanalytics.co.uk/2018/02/23/nhs-emergency-winter-pressures-dashboard/))

With a little creativity, you can use QlikView‘s conditional formatting and mini chart features to build similar visualizations customized to your own business data.

## Upgrading Your Tables with Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting and mini charts allow you to maximize the storytelling potential of any table. By layering on visual cues, dynamic colors, and embedded charts, you can guide users to insights while preserving the flexibility and depth of a tabular view.

Remember – with great power comes great responsibility! Use conditional formatting judiciously to enhance meaning, not just decorate your tables. Focus on the key message you want to convey and choose formats that make the data more intuitive.

I hope this in-depth look at conditional formatting and mini charts in QlikView has given you some new ideas for visualizing your own tabular data. Feel free to adapt the techniques shown here to QlikSense, Tableau, Power BI, or any other modern analytics tool. Happy formatting!

---

Source: [Unlocking Insights in Tabular Data with Conditional Formatting and Mini Charts](https://33rdsquare.com/create-conditional-formatting-mini-chart/)