Icon sets in Excel - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Sales figures for a small store over a week.

Cell	Value
A1	Sales
A2	1200
A3	850
A4	400
A5	1500
A6	700
A7	300

Formula Trace

N/A (Icon sets are conditional formatting, no formula)

Step 1: Select range A2:A7

Step 2: Apply Conditional Formatting > Icon Sets > 3 Arrows (Colored)

Step 3: Excel compares each value to others in the range

Cell Reference Map

   A   
1 Sales 
2 1200 
3  850 
4  400 
5 1500 
6  700 
7  300 

(Icon set applies to A2:A7)

Icon sets use the values in cells A2 through A7 to decide which icon to show.

Result

   A        B
1 Sales    Icon
2 1200     ↑
3  850     →
4  400     ↓
5 1500     ↑
6  700     →
7  300     ↓

Icons appear next to sales numbers showing performance: green up arrow (↑) for high, yellow sideways arrow (→) for medium, red down arrow (↓) for low.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the green up arrow icon mean in the icon set?

A The value is exactly average

B The value is among the highest in the range

C The value is the lowest in the range

D The value is negative

Key Result

Icon sets use conditional formatting to assign icons based on relative cell values in a selected range.