By: Shamima Sultana

In reply to Eric Esh.

Hello Eric Esh,

You’re absolutely right—thanks for catching that. In the screenshot the color scale was applied to the entire range, so Excel used one global min→max for the whole table.
That’s why E6 (the overall max) is fully gold while E7 (a row max but not the global max) appears darker.
To truly color-scale by row, each row needs its own color-scale rule.

The quickest way is: Select the first row’s data cells, apply a 3-color scale (Min = Lowest, Mid = 50th percentile or Average, Max = Highest), then use the Format Painter to copy that formatting down to each subsequent row—Excel creates a separate rule per row, so the min/mid/max are computed within that row only.

After doing this, the highest value in every row (like E6 and E7 in your example) will share the same top color, and each row’s gradient will be independent. We mentioned it in the article to make this distinction and the per-row steps clearer—appreciate the sharp feedback.

Regards,
ExcelDemy