What is a highlighted table?

A highlighted table is a text table where every numeric cell is automatically shaded along a color gradient based on its value relative to the rest of its column - the highest values in a column get one end of the gradient, the lowest get the other, and everything in between is interpolated. It combines the precision of exact numbers with the at-a-glance magnitude sense of a heatmap, in one table.

When should I use a highlighted table instead of a text table?

Use a highlighted table when viewers need to scan a table of numbers and immediately spot which values are high or low without reading every cell - performance scorecards, comparison matrices, or any table where relative magnitude matters as much as the exact figure. Use a plain Text Table when the data does not benefit from a magnitude cue, or when categorical columns dominate and there are few numeric columns to highlight.

Which cells get shaded, and which don't?

Only numeric measure cells are shaded. Categorical dimension cells - names, labels, IDs - are never colored, since shading implies a magnitude comparison that does not apply to text values.

Is the color scale the same across every column?

No. Each numeric column is shaded independently, based on that column's own minimum and maximum value among the currently visible rows. A revenue column and a percentage column do not share a scale - each is judged only against its own range, which is what makes the shading meaningful regardless of how different two columns' units or magnitudes are.

Why does a moderately high value sometimes look much more intense than I expect?

The color scale is not linear - it compresses using a logarithmic curve, so a column with one or two extreme outliers does not have its entire gradient dominated by those outliers the way a linear scale would. The practical effect is that mid-range values shift toward the high end of the color gradient faster than they would on a straight linear scale. This is a deliberate design choice to keep the shading useful even when a column has a skewed distribution.

Can I change the highlight colors?

Yes, per column. In Highlight Colors, select a numeric column from the dropdown, then set its Gradient Start Color and Gradient End Color independently of every other column's gradient. There is no single table-wide highlight color - each numeric column keeps its own gradient setting.

Does the text color change based on the highlight color?

Yes, automatically, unless you set an explicit text color in Table Body. The table calculates the brightness of each cell's generated background color and switches text to black or white to keep it readable, so dark gradient ends do not produce illegible dark-on-dark text.

Does a highlighted table support sorting and the same column controls as a text table?

Yes. Sorting by column header, column and header row resizing, inline header renaming, and row virtualization for large datasets all work identically to a Text Table. The only addition is the automatic per-column color shading on numeric cells.

Highlighted Table | Edilitics Docs

Show raw rows and columns with numeric cells automatically shaded by value, like a heatmap built into a table. Best when viewers need exact numbers and a visual sense of magnitude.

A highlighted table is a text table where every numeric cell is automatically shaded along a color gradient based on its value relative to the rest of its column - effectively a heatmap built directly into a table. Drop 1 to 10 categorical or date fields into Column and 1 to 10 numeric fields into Row. Use it when viewers need both the exact number and an immediate visual sense of which values are high or low, without reading every cell individually.

Region	Revenue	Orders
North	42,000	312
South	58,000	401
East	35,000	268
West	67,000	455
Central	49,000	339

When to Use

A highlighted table solves a problem a plain text table can't: scanning a grid of numbers for outliers or patterns is slow, even when the numbers themselves are precise. Color-shading each numeric column relative to its own range lets viewers spot the highest and lowest values in a column at a glance, the same way a heatmap chart does, while keeping every exact figure readable in place.

Each column is shaded against its own range, not a shared scale. A revenue column's gradient has nothing to do with a percentage column's gradient - every numeric column is judged only against its own minimum and maximum among the visible rows. This is what makes the shading meaningful even when columns have wildly different units or magnitudes side by side.

Switch to a different chart when:

The numbers don't benefit from a magnitude cue, or most columns are categorical - use Text Table
You want the heatmap encoding without individual row-level detail, across two dimensions instead of one - use Heatmap
The goal is a single chart-level pattern, not a row-by-row scorecard - use a bar or line chart

Scenario	Dimension(s)	Measure(s)
Sales performance scorecard by rep and region	Sales rep, Region	Revenue, Quota attainment %
Product comparison matrix across metrics	Product name	Rating, Price, Units sold
Department budget variance review	Department, Cost center	Budget, Actual spend, Variance %
Campaign performance by channel	Channel name	Spend, Conversions, ROAS
Cohort retention table by signup month	Signup month, Cohort	Retention rate %, Active users

Required Inputs

Field	Type	Count
Dimension	Categorical or Date	1 to 10
Measure	Numeric	1 to 10

For step-by-step build instructions, see Build Your First Chart.

Formatting Options

The Format tab unlocks after at least one field is assigned. Once your table is rendering, use these controls to define how it looks and how viewers interact with it.

Style

Use the chart title to state what the table contains, especially if it will be screenshotted or exported on its own without surrounding dashboard context.

Control	What it does
Show Chart Title	Shows or hides the title. The text is preserved when hidden so you can toggle it back without re-entering.
Enter Chart Title	Title text. Maximum 50 characters.
Font family	Font applied to the title.
Font size	5 to 30.
Bold / Italic	Weight and style.
Alignment	Left, center, or right within the chart container.

Table Header controls the styling and labels of column headers. Switch between Columns (your dimension fields) and Rows (your measure fields) to style each group independently - the names are a holdover from how fields are assigned, not the table's visual layout.

Control	What it does
Columns / Rows toggle	Selects whether you are editing dimension headers or measure headers. Settings below apply only to the selected group.
Header label (per column)	Type directly into each header's label field to rename its displayed text. Does not change the underlying field name, only what viewers see.
Font size	Up to 18.
Bold / Italic	Weight and style.
Alignment	Left, center, or right within the header cell.
Font Family / Color	Typeface and text color for headers in the selected group.
Border Color	Color of the header cell borders.
Border Width	Thickness of header borders, 0 to 5.

Table Body controls the styling of data cells, separately for dimension columns and measure columns. The background color on numeric cells comes from Highlight Colors and overrides any explicit background here - this panel still controls text color, font, and borders on top of that shading.

Control	What it does
Columns / Rows toggle	Selects whether you are editing dimension cell styling or measure cell styling.
Font size	Up to 18.
Bold / Italic	Weight and style.
Alignment	Left, center, or right within the cell.
Font Family / Color	Typeface and text color. Setting an explicit color here overrides the automatic black-or-white text contrast that otherwise adapts to each cell's highlight color.
Border Color	Color of the cell borders.
Border Width	Thickness of cell borders, 0 to 5.
Row Color 1 / Row Color 2	Two colors that stripe consecutive rows behind categorical cells. The stripe changes whenever the first column's value changes between rows. Numeric cells show their highlight color instead of the row stripe.

Numerical Values controls how each measure column's numbers are formatted - independently per column, since different measures often need different formats.

Control	What it does
Select Header	Choose which measure column the settings below apply to.
Number Type	Default, Scientific, Decimal, Currency - Custom, Currency - Standard, Percentage, or Custom.
Currency	Choose the currency code. Available when Number Type is Currency - Standard.
Display Unit	None, Thousand, Million, or Billion.
Decimal Places	Number of decimal places shown.
Prefix / Suffix	Custom text added before or after the value. Available when Number Type is Currency - Custom or Custom.

Highlight Colors is what distinguishes this chart from a plain text table - it sets the color gradient each numeric column uses to shade its cells, configured independently per column.

Control	What it does
Select Value	Choose which numeric column the gradient below applies to. Each column keeps its own independent gradient.
Gradient Start Color	The color assigned to the lowest values in the selected column.
Gradient End Color	The color assigned to the highest values in the selected column. Values in between are interpolated along a non-linear curve, so the shading stays useful even when the column has a skewed distribution with outliers.

The minimum and maximum used for shading are always calculated automatically from the currently visible rows - there is no manual override. If you filter the table to a smaller set of rows, the color scale recalculates against that smaller range, which means the same value can shade differently before and after filtering.

Interacting with the Table

A highlighted table supports the same direct, on-canvas interactions as a text table, with color shading layered on top.

Interaction	What it does
Click a column header	Sorts the table by that column, ascending. Click again to sort descending. Sorting does not change the color scale - it is still based on the full visible dataset's min and max per column.
Drag a column header's right edge	Resizes that column's width.
Drag the header row's bottom edge	Resizes header row height.
Scroll	The table uses row virtualization, so scrolling through thousands of rows stays smooth without rendering the full dataset into the page at once.

Best Practices

Use highlight shading only on columns where magnitude comparison is meaningful. A column of IDs or sequential record numbers doesn't benefit from a heatmap gradient - reserve Highlight Colors for measures where "higher is notably different from lower" is actually part of the message.

Be aware that filtering changes the color scale. Because min and max are recalculated from whatever rows are currently visible, the same number can appear a different shade before and after a filter is applied. This is expected behavior, not a bug - but it means a highlighted table is not a reliable way to compare a value's color across two different filtered views of the same data.

Choose gradient colors with enough contrast for both ends to read clearly. The text color automatically adapts to stay legible against the background, but pick a Start and End color pair that are visually distinct from each other, or the gradient will not communicate magnitude effectively even with correct text contrast.

Don't rely on the gradient for precise comparison between columns. Each column's gradient is scaled independently, so a vivid color in one column and a similarly vivid color in another column do not mean the underlying values are comparable - read the actual numbers when comparing across columns, and use color only to scan within a single column.

Keep the most important highlighted column near the left edge. On a wide table that requires horizontal scrolling, the column carrying the most important heatmap signal should be visible without scrolling, the same way it would be the first thing a viewer's eye should reach.

FAQs

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Highlighted Table