The first thing you have to do is enter a numeric value into the cell you’d like to format. You can either enter the value directly or use a formula.



How I made the column wider; you don’t necessarily have to do this, but it does help make the bar look more like a “bar” .

Now click Conditional Formatting, select Data Bars and click More Rules.




In the New Formatting Rule dialog check the box that says Show Bar Only (so the number doesn’t appear in the cell. Under Minimum and Maximum, select Type as Number. Then, set the Value to the minimum (beginning) value of your scale and maximum . We’ll just go for 0 and 100, but you could set this to anything that works for you.

Now let’s configure the Bar Appearance. Make sure the Fill is Solid Fill and select the color you’d like to use. When you’re done, the dialog should look similar to this:




Now click OK, and you’re done! crisp progress bar adorning your spreadsheet.