Patent ID: 7627812

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for formatting a selected range of spreadsheet cells according to a generated spectrum of cell formats the method comprising: receiving a selection of a range of spreadsheet cells, wherein each cell of the range of spreadsheet cells includes a respective cell value; displaying a format input dialog for receiving formatting criteria for the selected range of spreadsheet cells, wherein receiving formatting criteria includes: receiving a selection of a cell format style, receiving a selection of a minimum value, receiving a selection of a maximum value, receiving a selection of a minimum value cell format, and receiving a selection of a maximum value cell format, based on the minimum value cell format and the maximum value cell format of the received formatting criteria, generating an interval of varying cell formats that vary in a spectrum from the minimum value cell format to the maximum value cell format; receiving a selection to format the selected range of spreadsheet cells, wherein formatting includes: identifying the respective value for each cell in the range of spreadsheet cells, determining whether the respective value for each cell is between the selected minimum value and the selected maximum value, and for each respective value between the selected minimum value and the selected maximum value, applying, into the cells of each respective value, a respective cell format determined from a correlation of each respective value to the respective cell format in the spectrum of varying cell formats.