Highlighting the Largest Values in a Column

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 29, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365

Barry has a column of data that contains numeric values. He would like to use a conditional formatting rule to highlight the three largest values in the column. He wonders if there is a special trick to applying conditional formatting to a column, as he cannot seem to get the values to highlight properly.

There is a very easy way to do this using conditional formatting. Just follow these steps:

  1. Select the cells to which you want the conditional formatting rule applied. (I'm going to assume that the values are in the range A1:A200.)
  2. Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
  3. Click on the Conditional Formatting tool. Excel displays a group of options.
  4. Choose the New Rule option. Excel displays the New Formatting Rule dialog box.
  5. In the Select a Rule Type area, choose Format Only Top or Bottom Ranked Values. Excel updates the dialog box to reflect your choice.
  6. Change the "Format Values that Rank In the" setting from "Top 10" to "Top 3." (See Figure 1.)

    7. Figure 1. The New Formatting Rule dialog box.

  7. Use the formatting controls in the dialog box to indicate how you want the top 3 values to be formatted.
  8. Click on OK. Excel saves and immediately applies the conditional formatting rule.

You need to realize that it is possible for more than three values to quality as the "top 3." For instance, if the top value is 324 and six cells contain that value, then all six will be formatted. In other words, ties in the ranking affects how the rule applies.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10142) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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