Create Color Scale Heatmaps in LibreOffice Calc

Color scale heatmaps in LibreOffice Calc provide a visual representation of your numeric data by automatically applying color gradients based on cell values. This guide explains how to apply, configure, and manage both two-color and three-color heatmaps to quickly identify trends, outliers, and patterns in your spreadsheets.

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding a Color Scale Heatmap

1. Select the Data Range

Click and drag to highlight the numeric cells you want to include in the heatmap. You can select a single column, a row, or a large multi-cell grid.

Go to the top menu and click Format.
Hover over Conditional.
Select Color Scale… from the submenu.

3. Configure the Color Scale Settings

A dialog box will appear allowing you to set up the gradient logic. Calc supports two main types:

2-Entry Color Scale: Blends between a minimum color and a maximum color.
3-Entry Color Scale: Blends from a minimum color through a middle color to a maximum color (ideal for highlighting low, average, and high values).

To set your thresholds: * Minimum / Middle / Maximum Values: Choose how the boundary values are calculated from the dropdown: * Min / Max: Automatically uses the lowest and highest values in the selected range. * Value (Number): Allows you to enter specific numeric thresholds. * Percentile: Useful for large datasets to avoid outliers skewing the color gradient (e.g., 50th percentile for the midpoint). * Percentage: Calculates colors based on percentage range between minimum and maximum. * Colors: Click the color preview boxes to assign custom colors for each threshold (for example, Green for high values, Yellow for midpoint, and Red for low values).

4. Apply the Formatting

Click OK to apply the conditional color scale to your selected cells. The values will automatically reflect the gradient corresponding to their relative values.

How to Edit or Remove a Color Scale Heatmap

If your data changes or you need to adjust the gradient thresholds:

Select the cells containing the heatmap.
Go to Format > Conditional > Manage…
Select the active rule from the list.
Click Edit to modify the colors or numeric thresholds, or click Remove to delete the heatmap and restore default cell styling.
Click OK to save your changes.