How to Add Trend Arrows in Excel – 3 Methods

The following dataset contains year-to-year growth rates of some companies.

Method 1 – Add Trend Arrows with the Conditional Formatting

Steps:

• Select C5:C12.
• Select Home >> Conditional Formatting >> Icon Sets >> 3 Triangles, as shown below.

This is the output.

• Select the range again.
• Select Home >> Conditional Formatting >> Manage Rules.
• Choose a rule.
• Click Edit Rule.

• Change the Type to Number.
• Enter zeros in Value.
• Click OK.
• You can change a particular icon or the icon style using the dropdowns. You can also show the icons by checking Show Icon Only.

• Click Apply.
• Click OK to see the result.

Read More: How to Add Up and Down Arrows in Excel

Method 2 – Applying the Custom Number Format to Add Trend Arrows

Steps:

• Select the range and press CTRL+1 to open the Format Cells dialog box.
• Go to Custom number format.
• Enter [Green] ▲ 0.00%;[Red] ▼ 0.00% in Type and click OK.

You will see the following result.

Method 3 – Insert Trend Arrows Using the Wingdings Font with the CHAR and IF Functions

• Enter the following formula in D5.

• Change the font to Wingdings 3. You can apply conditional formatting to show green and red arrows for positive and negative values.
• Drag down the Fill Handle to copy the formula.

This is the output.

Read More: How to Insert Trend Arrows Based on Another Cell in Excel

Things to Remember

• Modify the rule for conditional formatting while using icon sets with more than three icons.
• Remove the color names in the custom number format to keep the font colors unchanged.
• Modify the formula to add arrows other than the up and down arrows.

Download Practice Workbook

Download the practice workbook.

Related Articles

• Double Headed Arrow in Excel
• How to Insert Curved Arrow in Excel
• How to Use Blue Line with Arrows in Excel
• How to Show Tracer Arrows in Excel
• Up and Down Arrows in Excel Using Conditional Formatting
• How to Remove Tracer Arrows in Excel

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