Coworker told me my Excel sheets were impossible to read, so I changed everything

I used to put every single number in bold red font so nothing got missed. Then my coworker Janet spent 20 minutes trying to find a monthly total in a 50-row sheet. She said 'this looks like a ransom note, not a budget file.' I switched to just bolding totals and using green for positive numbers. My boss hasn't complained once in 3 months. Anyone else have a work habit they had to kill because someone called them out on it?

4 comments

4 Comments

leo_black761mo ago

Yeah but bold red for everything isn't quite right either. Green for positive numbers is a solid choice, but red for negatives is way more standard and helps people spot losses fast.

beth27629d agoMost Upvoted

Question whether it's really that serious. Red for losses is fine but people act like you're breaking some sacred law if you do it different.

juliarodriguez1mo ago

Hold on, bold red font for every single number? That must have been a real sight to behold. I can almost feel my eyes crossing just thinking about looking at a whole sheet of that. It is a good thing Janet spoke up, because I bet your boss would have said something eventually too.

shanef341mo ago

Learned that one the hard way myself, switched to just bolding the key totals and it actually made the numbers easier to scan for everyone.