I have a spreadsheet that tracks prices for different commodities
month-to-month that is frequently used for presentations. Each month is
listed in columns and at the last column there are arrows indicating the most
recent trend (red up arrow for increases month over month, green down arrow
for decreases). Currently I have to manually add or delete these shapes
based on which direction prices are moving. Is there a way to use formulas
or conditional formatting to influence objects such as drawn arrows? It
would be easy to do a conditional formatting to change a cell from red to
green based on a formula, but I don't know of any way to conditional format a
shape. Is this possible?

If you have Excel 2007 CF has the up/down/sideways arrows.

If running earlier version you will need VBA

I can send a workbook to your email if you contact me through email at

gorddibbATshawDOTca change the obvious.

Or I can upload the file to a site like savefile.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:06:01 -0700, djbeard83
wrote:

I have a spreadsheet that tracks prices for different commodities
month-to-month that is frequently used for presentations. Each month is
listed in columns and at the last column there are arrows indicating the most
recent trend (red up arrow for increases month over month, green down arrow
for decreases). Currently I have to manually add or delete these shapes
based on which direction prices are moving. Is there a way to use formulas
or conditional formatting to influence objects such as drawn arrows? It
would be easy to do a conditional formatting to change a cell from red to
green based on a formula, but I don't know of any way to conditional format a
shape. Is this possible?

I have a spreadsheet that tracks prices for different commodities
month-to-month that is frequently used for presentations. Each month
is listed in columns and at the last column there are arrows
indicating the most recent trend (red up arrow for increases month
over month, green down arrow for decreases).

Here's one way with Excel 2003.

First put in the cell a formula that evaluates to -1 for decreases and +1
for increases.

Then format the cell to have the font "Wingdings 3."

Then select the cell and use
Format Cells Number Custom
And in the "Type" box put
[Red]"XXXX";[Green]"YYYY"
but don't really put XXXX and YYYY.

Instead of XXXX type
Alt-0219
Instead of YYYY type
Alt-0220
That is, hold down the right Alt key while typing the four digits 0219 (or
0220) on the numeric keypad.

This should do it.

If sometime you want to explore other symbols and see their numeric codes,
select some cell and look at
Insert Symbol Symbols
Then choose a font like Symbol or Wingdings or Webdings.

All of these years I've wondered about what use Wingdings could have. Thanks
for the suggestion - it works great!

"MyVeryOwnSelf" wrote:

I have a spreadsheet that tracks prices for different commodities
month-to-month that is frequently used for presentations. Each month
is listed in columns and at the last column there are arrows
indicating the most recent trend (red up arrow for increases month
over month, green down arrow for decreases).

Here's one way with Excel 2003.

First put in the cell a formula that evaluates to -1 for decreases and +1
for increases.

Then format the cell to have the font "Wingdings 3."

Then select the cell and use
Format Cells Number Custom
And in the "Type" box put
[Red]"XXXX";[Green]"YYYY"
but don't really put XXXX and YYYY.

Instead of XXXX type
Alt-0219
Instead of YYYY type
Alt-0220
That is, hold down the right Alt key while typing the four digits 0219 (or
0220) on the numeric keypad.

This should do it.

If sometime you want to explore other symbols and see their numeric codes,
select some cell and look at
Insert Symbol Symbols
Then choose a font like Symbol or Wingdings or Webdings.