Conditional format menu misleading ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Blue Max
  • Start date Start date
B

Blue Max

The conditional formatting ribbon menu in Excel 2007 includes an option to
'Clear Rules'. Wouldn't this option be better labeled 'Clear Cell Formats'?
The current title seems to infer that the user is going to delete the 'Rule'
versus the 'Conditional Formatting' of the cell, which is misleading. As a
new user, I had to check help to see how to clear conditional formatting
from a cell because I intially passed over this menu option several times.
The reason the option was passed over relates back to the misleading label
which seemed to infer I would be deleting rules that I still wanted to
preserve. Does anyone view this issue in the same light?
 
I'll bite. How do you clear a rule but leave conditional formatting?
Aren't they synonymous? Not that "Clear Conditional Cell Formats" wouldn't
remove all confusion but it's longer. "Clear Cell Formats" isn't great as
it implies all formats in my opinion.

--
Jim

| The conditional formatting ribbon menu in Excel 2007 includes an option to
| 'Clear Rules'. Wouldn't this option be better labeled 'Clear Cell
Formats'?
| The current title seems to infer that the user is going to delete the
'Rule'
| versus the 'Conditional Formatting' of the cell, which is misleading. As
a
| new user, I had to check help to see how to clear conditional formatting
| from a cell because I intially passed over this menu option several times.
| The reason the option was passed over relates back to the misleading label
| which seemed to infer I would be deleting rules that I still wanted to
| preserve. Does anyone view this issue in the same light?
|
 
If you Clear the rule, that rule is gone for the selection where you
cleared it. If the Rule applies the formatting, the formatting cannot
cannot exist without the rule being applied? The Label is indeed
correct and concise, the Rule is what is cleared. If you delete, clear
or set a rule so that it is not true then formatting reverts to the cell
default. If you want Keep the rule but Remove the formatting the Rule
would apply, you need to Edit the Rule. Start with Manage Rules, Edit
Rule, then click Format, and then click the Clear button. That procedure
is what you say you want to do. (Keep the Rule, but remove the applied
formatting)
 
Hi,

A rule can be deleted without clearing the format - A cell can be formatted
with bold, red text, blue backgound using manual commands, then on top of
that you can apply a conditional formatting that turns the cell green when it
is >10 for example. Conditional Formatting has priority over manual
formatting but when the rule is not active, the cell is <=10 for example, the
manual formatting will come back into effect.

So clearing the rule is not the same as clearing the format.

Also, when you clear a rule you are knocking it out for the current
selection only unless you specify otherwise. So for example, if you select
one cell of selection that has conditional formatting applied you are
removing the rule from that cell, you are not deleting the rule. If you
choose Format, Manage Rules you can pick the location of the rules you want
to show, the default is Current Selection, but you could show all rules for
this workbook or specific sheets. And likewise when you choose Conditional
Formatting, Clear Rules you have a number of options. When you clear a rule
from a range but not everywhere it is applied, the rule will still be in the
Rules Manager, and that makes sense.

So everything seems to be working logically. I hedge my bets. It is quite
obvious that Conditional Formatting has seen a monster change in 2007, and
personally I think overall its fantastic.
 
Good point, Jim. My choice of words could also be misleading for similar
reasons. Part of the problem seems to be semantics. If the user equates
'Clear' to 'Delete' then this generates a potential problem. However, if
the user equates 'Clear' to de-activating the rule versus 'Deleting' the
rule, then the wording seems much clearer. I suspect that this issue may
simply be an issue of overcoming the inherent learning curve.

Thanks,
Richard

****************
 
Good point, Bob. My choice of words could also be misleading for similar
reasons. Part of the problem seems to be semantics. If the user equates
'Clear' to 'Delete' then this generates a potential problem. However, if
the user equates 'Clear' to de-activating the rule versus 'Deleting' the
rule, then the wording seems much clearer. I suspect that this issue may
simply be an issue of overcoming the inherent learning curve.

Thanks,

Richard

********************
 
Good point, Shane. My choice of words could also be misleading for similar
reasons. Part of the problem seems to be semantics. If the user equates
'Clear' to 'Delete' then this generates a potential problem. However, if
the user equates 'Clear' to de-activating the rule versus 'Deleting' the
rule, then the wording seems much clearer. I suspect that this issue may
simply be an issue of overcoming the inherent learning curve. Thank you for
the explanation.

Thanks,
Richard

*************
 
It might be easier to make the connection this way. Imagine you are a
waiter in a restaurant, the patrons have left and the busboy quit. What
are you going to do to the table the guests were at? Clear it or Delete
it? Perhaps that will clarify the difference between the meanings of the
two?
 
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