How To Shade Colors In Google Sheets

At that place are many different options for coloring cells in Google Sheets that will let y'all to brand your spreadsheet visually appealing and easy to read.

To color a cell or a range of cells in Google Sheets, do the following:

Select the cell or range of cells that you lot desire to modify the color of
And so click the make full color push/menu found in the toolbar
And so select the colour that you want

If you lot want, yous can click "Custom…" after opening the colour menu, so that you can cull the exact color that you want.

After selecting the desired cells to color, click "Fill Color"

Select desired default color

(Optional)- Click "Custom…" and then select a custom color

In this article I will evidence yous how to color cells in Google Sheets, and I will too show yous how to change the color of text, change border colour, and also how to utilize alternating row colors.

For the examples below, if needed, refer to the images above that show how to open the color palette and select default color, or custom colors.

The color pick options will be the same for coloring text and borders, except that they are held under a different toolbar menu.

In the examples, we volition exist using the same set of data (student consignment grades) to color in a diversity of ways.

How to alter cell color in Google Sheets

First, allow's change the color of a unmarried cell. When referring to changing the color of a cell itself, we are talking nigh changing the background color of that jail cell.

To color a cell in Google Sheets, select the cell that yous want to color, open up the "make full color" carte, then select the color that y'all want.

Notice that in this example, in cell C6, the assignment grade is 32.71%. Let's say that we want to manually mark this jail cell ruddy, to brand it stand out.

To practice this simply click/select prison cell C6, and then open up the "Make full Color" menu, and so select the color red.

(Run into the top of this commodity for visual instructions on selecting color from the palette)

How to change the color of a range of cells

Now allow's select multiple cells to color, or in other words nosotros will select a range of cells to color.

To colour a range of cells in Google Sheets, select the range of cells that y'all want to color, open the "fill up colour" card, then select the color that you want.

In this case we volition colour the range A1:D1 to brand the cells in the header stand up out. (Find that only 4 cells are selected here, as opposed to a whole row being selected which we will become over in the next case)

To practise this merely select the range A1:D1, and so open the fill colour menu as previously demonstrated at the top of the article, and select your desired colour (cornflower blue in this instance).

To select a range of cells (A1:D1), utilize one of the following methods to select multiple cells:

Click and elevate the cursor from Cell A1 to cell D1, or…
Hold the "ctrl" cardinal on the keyboard while individually clicking the cells A1, B1, C1, and D1 or…
Select cell A1 so while holding the "shift" cardinal on the keyboard, and then press the right arrow key on the keyboard 3 times or…
Select prison cell A1 so while holding the "shift" key on the keyboard, click jail cell D1

How to modify row color in Google Sheets

To change row color in Google Sheets, click on the number itself on the very left of the row that you want to color, which will select the entire row of cells, and then open up the "Fill colour" menu, and then select the color that yous want.

In this example we volition colour row half-dozen crimson.

To do this click on the number "6" on the far left of row 6 to select the entire row, open up the "Fill color" carte, and then select the color that y'all want.

How to alter column color in Google Sheets

To change column color in Google Sheets, click on the letter of the alphabet itself at the top of the column that you lot want to colour, which will select the entire column of cells, so open up the "Fill colour" carte, and then select the colour that you lot want.

In this instance, we volition color column D green, to make the "letter course" column stand up out.

To do this click on the letter "D" on the peak of cavalcade D to select the entire column, open up the "Fill color" card, and then select the color that you want.

How to alternate row color in Google Sheets

In some cases you may desire to color every other row in your spreadsheet, and this can be washed in a much easier way than by manually selecting every other line before coloring.

To alternate row colour in Google Sheets, select the range that yous desire to apply alternating colors to, open the "Fill color" menu, click "Alternate colors…", customize the options for styling, and then click "Done".

(If you want, you can likewise select the header or even the unabridged sheet)

If yous prefer, y'all can also open the alternating colors bill of fare without selecting a range get-go, and then blazon the range that you want to color in the "Utilize to range" field. If y'all select the range before opening the menu, y'all will see that the "Use to range" field will already be filled in.

When styling alternating colors, y'all can select a default style, or you lot tin can also specify which colors that you want to apply.

You can too select whether or not you want there to be a special color for the header/footer.

If the color does non brainstorm on the row that y'all want, for example if you want the colour to be on fifty-fifty rows instead of odd rows… you can either adjust your source range by one row, or flip the colors assigned to "Color 1" and "Color two" in the carte du jour.

In this case the range that we are applying alternating colors to is A2:D9.

How to remove alternating colors

At the lesser of this article I will get over how to remove color from cells in general, but let'southward get over how to remove alternate colors specifically.

To remove alternating colors in Google Sheets, select the range that has colour to remove, open up the alternating color menu while (open up the "Make full color" menu, then click "Alternating colors"), and and so click "Remove alternate colors".

Alternating row colour is a format that will remain fifty-fifty if y'all click "Reset" in the colour bill of fare. If you manually colour a prison cell that already has alternate colors, you will run into the color alter to what you lot manually select, just the alternate color format will still be applied in the background unless you click "Remove alternating colors" as described higher up.

To remove alternate colors, subsequently selecting the range that you want to remove color from, you tin can also open up the "Format" carte du jour, then click "Clear formatting".

I'll go over clearing formatting more below, merely for now, note that this volition remove ALL formatting from a jail cell.

Alternate column OR row color with conditional formatting in Google Sheets

Another way to use alternating colors is the utilise conditional formatting. With this method you volition exist able to alternate row colors, or if needed you will also be able to alternating column colors.

To employ alternate colors with conditional formatting, use any of the 4 formulas below, in the "Format cells if…" options, under the "Custom formula is" drop-down choice:

=ISEVEN(ROW())
=ISODD(ROW())
=ISEVEN(Column())
=ISODD(Column())

Conditional formatting is an amazingly useful tool that allows you to format cells based on their contents, and the post-obit is simply 1 of the many ways that you can use conditional formatting in Google Sheets.

Like in the final instance, here you lot tin can either select the range to color start, or you tin can type information technology into the "Apply to range" field in the conditional formatting carte.

To open up the conditional formatting menu practise either of the following:

Click the "Format" menu, and the click "Provisional formatting…" or…
Open up the "Fill color" menu, and click "Conditional formatting…"

Then select "Custom formula is" from the drop-down bill of fare under the "Format cells if…" options.

And then use 1 of the formulas described below, depending on your preference/situation.

The formula below volition color even rows:

=ISEVEN(ROW())

The formula below will colour odd rows:

=ISODD(ROW())

The formula below volition color even columns (B, D, F, etc…):

=ISEVEN(COLUMN())

The formula below will color odd columns (A, C, E, etc…):

=ISODD(COLUMN())

If yous want you can choose your ain colour from the formatting style options, and you can select other formatting options to employ to the cells/rows/columns that your conditional formatting rules apply to.

The example below uses the formula =ISEVEN(ROW()) to colour fifty-fifty rows. The range that the rule / color is applied to is A1:K1000

This example uses the formula =ISEVEN(COLUMN()) to color even columns. The range that the rule / color is applied to is A1:K1000

To remove this blazon of alternating color that is practical with conditional formatting, you tin can do either of the post-obit:

Open the provisional formatting menu and click "Remove rule" (Trash can symbol) to remove the conditional formattingor…
Select a range, and then click "Format, then click "Clear formatting". Merely note that this method will remove ALL formatting

How to alter text color in Google Sheets

Changing the color of text in your spreadsheet is almost the exact same as irresolute cell groundwork colour, except that you must click a different menu to begin with.

To change text color in Google Sheets, select the range of cells that incorporate the text/values that you lot want to colour, open the "Text color" menu, and then select the colour that yous want.

Similar with changing the colour of cells, when changing text color you tin can select a unmarried cell, a range, a row, or a column… and then change the color to anything that you want.

In this example nosotros are going to color the text in cell C6 red, rather than irresolute the color of the prison cell itself, which we did in the showtime example.

To do this merely select jail cell C6, then open up the "Text Color" bill of fare, then select the colour red.

How to change border color in Google Sheets

You may also detect certain situations where y'all want to change the colour of borders in Google Sheets.

Most probable you will want to do this to only change the shade of grey/blackness of borders, but in this example I take used the colour red to brand the lines stand out.

To modify border colour in Google Sheets, you must first select the jail cell or range of cells that you lot want to modify, then open up the "Borders" menu in the toolbar, then open up the "Border colour" menu, and then you must employ the blazon of edge that you want to see. If y'all exercise not apply / re-apply borders, irresolute the line color will not take effect.

In this example we are going to color the borders of the cells in the range A2:D9 red. (I have besides fabricated the lines thicker here to make the colour stand out more than in the image)

To do this, select the range A2:D9, open the "Borders" bill of fare, and so open the "Border color" bill of fare, then select the color carmine.

Copying and pasting color/formatting

In some situations you lot can simply re-create and paste a colored cell, to colour another prison cell location.

This will replicate any formatting and contents into the pasted jail cell location, across just color… so this is only usable in some situations, merely I accept frequently used this as a quick method to copy cell color (or white infinite) to another place very speedily.

How to remove color from cells in Google Sheets

Removing color from cells, is in nearly cases well-nigh exactly the aforementioned process as adding color.

To remove color from cells in Google Sheets, select the cells/rows/columns that y'all want to remove color from, open the "Fill up colour" menu, and and so click "Reset". You can also merely click the color white if you prefer.

Another way to remove color from cells, including whatever color that is applied through conditional formatting or alternating colors, is to clear the formatting of selected cells past doing the following:

Select the cells that y'all want to clear color/formatting from
Click the "Format" menu in the toolbar
Click "Clear formatting"

(Using "Clear formatting" volition clear ALL/ANY formatting from the cells)

Now you know lots of different ways to color your spreadsheets, and then that you can brand your finished work visually highly-seasoned and very easy to read!