Your Forecast is Clear and Bright with Conditional Formatting in Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook
One of the best and latest features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook is the capability to apply conditional formatting to records in a view. Conditional formatting is available when using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for Microsoft Office Outlook Add-in and is an outstanding tool for power Outlook users! With conditional formatting, you specify the definite benchmarks and criteria for those records you need displayed differently within that view. You can also set the color and font on these so that the accounts that match the criteria setup are then displayed in a specific way and are quite remarkable for data visualization.
Conditional formatting is useful because the data is then shown in a way that really makes it become more noticeable, for example when forecasting: opportunities with overdue dates can be displayed in red and italics, soon to close opportunities in green and bold. The ability to see important data in a different style allows users to see which records in the system take priority over others. Note: The formatting you apply is applied per view.
Below are the steps for configuring the Open Opportunities view in Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook with Estimated Revenue greater than $5000 in purple bold text:
1) In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for Outlook, navigate to Open Opportunities. On the ribbon, click on the View tab and click on View Settings.
2) Click on Conditional Formatting and then click on Add and give the conditional formatting rule a name.
3) Click on the Font button to select the conditional formatting font style and choose the color purple from the drop down. Click on Condition to define the condition to use in the rule.
4) In the Filter window, click on Advanced and then select the Field drop-down-list.
5) In the list of options, select User-defined fields in folder. This will allow you to select fields from the Opportunity record.
6) Select Estimated Revenue (number) as the conditional field, is more than as the condition, and enter 5000 into the value field. After we have configured our criteria, click on Add to List.
Note: You can add multiple criteria to the conditional formatting rule.
7) Click on OK in all windows. The conditional formatting will now be applied to the Open Opportunities view.
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