What should you do after defining rules for conditional formatting?

After defining rules for conditional formatting, it is essential to review the columns to ensure that the correct conditions apply because this step allows you to verify that the formatting rules are functioning as intended. By reviewing the columns, you can check if the rules highlight or alter the appearance of the data correctly based on the specified criteria, ensuring that the visual representation of the data conveys the necessary information clearly and accurately.

This process helps to identify any potential errors or misconfigurations in the rules that could lead to misleading interpretations of the data. Ensuring proper adherence to the defined conditions can enhance data analysis and decision-making processes by providing immediate visual cues that indicate important trends or statuses within the dataset.

Other options do not align with the best practices for effective data management and analysis following the establishment of conditional formatting rules. Discarding all rules defeats the purpose of implementing conditional formatting. Recreating the entire worksheet may be unnecessary and inefficient, while removing unnecessary columns does not directly address the need to validate the effectiveness and accuracy of the applied formatting rules.