What is conditional formatting used for in spreadsheets?

Conditional formatting is a powerful feature in spreadsheets that allows users to change the visual appearance of cells based on specific criteria or conditions. This means that you can set rules that dictate how cells are displayed depending on the data they contain. For example, you can highlight cells that contain values above a certain threshold, use different colors to indicate different ranges of data, or apply specific font styles to cells that meet certain conditions. This enhances data visualization, making it easier to analyze and interpret information at a glance.

Using conditional formatting effectively can help users quickly identify trends, outliers, or other important aspects of their data, making it a valuable tool in data management and analysis. The other options, while relevant to spreadsheet functionalities, do not describe the purpose or use of conditional formatting. Protecting sheets, creating charts, and applying style templates address different aspects of spreadsheet management, but they do not involve modifying the appearance of individual cells based on set conditions.