How to change colors in excel

To change the text fonts, colors, or general look of objects in all worksheets of your workbook quickly, try switching to another theme or customizing a theme to meet your needs. If you like a specific theme, you can make it the default for all new workbooks.

To switch to another theme, click Page Layout > Themes, and pick the one you want.

To customize that theme, you can change its colors, fonts, and effects as needed, save them with the current theme, and make it the default theme for all new workbooks if you want.

Change theme colors

Picking a different theme color palette or changing its colors will affect the available colors in the color picker and the colors you’ve used in your workbook.

1. Click Page Layout > Colors, and pick the set of colors you want.

   The first set of colors is used in the current theme.

   

2. To create your own set of colors, click Customize Colors.

3. For each theme color you want to change, click the button next to that color, and pick a color under Theme Colors.

   

   To add your own color, click More Colors, and then pick a color on the Standard tab or enter numbers on the Custom tab.

   Tip: In the Sample box, you get a preview of the changes you made.

4. In the Name box, type a name for the new color set, and click Save.

   Tip: You can click Reset before you click Save if you want to return to the original colors.

5. To save these new theme colors with the current theme, click Page Layout > Themes > Save Current Theme.

Change theme fonts

Picking a different theme font lets you change your text at once. For this to work, make sure Body and Heading fonts are used to format your text.

1. Click Page Layout > Fonts, and pick the set of fonts you want.

   The first set of fonts is used in the current theme.

   

2. To create you own set of fonts, click Customize Fonts.

3. In the Create New Theme Fonts box, in the Heading font and Body font boxes, pick the fonts you want.

   

4. In the Name box, type a name for the new font set, and click Save.

5. To save these new theme fonts with the current theme, click Page Layout > Themes > Save Current Theme.

Change theme effects

Picking a different set of effects changes the look of the objects you used in your worksheet by applying different types of borders and visual effects like shading and shadows.

1. Click Page Layout > Effects, and pick the set of effects you want.

   The first set of effects is used in the current theme.

   

   Note: You can’t customize a set of effects.

2. To save the effects you selected with the current theme, click Page Layout > Themes > Save Current Theme.

Save a custom theme for reuse

After making changes to your theme, you can save it to use it again.

1. Click Page Layout > Themes > Save Current Theme.

   

2. In the File name box, type a name for the theme, and click Save.

   Note: The theme is saved as a theme file (.thmx) in the Document Themes folder on your local drive and is automatically added to the list of custom themes that appear when you click Themes.

Use a custom theme as the default for new workbooks

To use your custom theme for all new workbooks, apply it to a blank workbook and then save it as a template named Book.xltx in the XLStart folder (typically C:Usersuser nameAppDataLocalMicrosoftExcelXLStart).

To set up Excel so it automatically opens a new workbook that uses Book.xltx:

1. Click File>Options.

2. On the General tab, under Start up options, uncheck the Show the Start screen when this application starts box.

   

   The next time you start Excel, it opens a workbook that uses Book.xltx.

Tip: Pressing Ctrl+N will also create a new workbook that uses Book.xltx.

To change the colors of the current workbook

   1.   On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes
group, click Theme Colors:

   2.   Click Customize Colors…:

   3.   In the Create New Theme Colors dialog box, under
Theme colors, click the button of the theme color element that you want to change:

   4.   Under Theme colors, select the colors that you
want to use:

In the Create New Theme Colors dialog box, under Sample, you can see the effect of the
changes that you make.

   5.   Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all of the theme color elements
that you want to change.

   6.   In the Name box, type an appropriate name for the
new theme colors.

   7.   Click Save.

Note: To revert all theme color elements to their original theme colors, you can click
Reset before you click Save.

To make changes apply to all new workbooks

If you would like to make these color changes apply to all new workbooks that you create, you
need to create a default workbook template.

   1.   On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes
group, click Themes.

   2.   Click Save Current Theme…:

   3.   In the File Name box, type an appropriate name for
the theme.

Note: A customs document theme is saved in the Document Themes folder and is
automatically added to the list of custom themes.

   4.   On the File tab, choose Save As.

   5.   In the Save Current Theme dialog box, was selected
Office Theme (*.thmx) and chose the Document Themes folder as the location. You
can use your own filename instead of the proposed Theme1.thmx.

The location of the Document Themes folder may vary, but it is usually located here:

C:Users<user name>AppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplatesDocument Themes

   6.   Click Save.

See also this tip in French:
Comment modifier les couleurs par défaut qu’Excel utilise pour les séries de graphiques.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use themes to apply and change formatting in Excel and Google Sheets.

Apply a Theme

Excel enables us to change the theme of a workbook. Applying a theme can change formatting such as font family, size, and color; cell background color; and emphasis (bold or italic). By default, the theme in Excel is “Office.” Let’s say that we have the data below – with the Office theme automatically applied – in a worksheet, and we want to apply a different theme.

As you can see, the data is formatted as a blue styled table, and the title is Word Art in blue font. All fonts are Calibri by default. Let’s say that we want to change this theme to some other theme offered in Excel.

In the Ribbon, (1) go to the Page Layout tab, then (2) click on Themes and (3) choose an offered theme (for example, Slice).

Applying the Slice theme changes the cell, object, and table formatting. The font is now Century Gothic, the Word Art font color is orange, and the table background colors are different shades of blue than they were using the Office theme.

Change a Theme

Of course, you’ll almost always need to change at least one setting to get the desired layout. Therefore, Excel allows you to change a predefined theme. You can change elements like the color scheme and font family.

Change the Color Scheme

To change colors in the current theme, follow these steps:

1. In the Ribbon, (1) go to the Page Layout tab and, in the Themes group, (2) click on Colors > (3) Customize Colors.

2. In the pop-up window for theme colors change, you can change the color of different categories. We’ll change Accent 1, which will affect the table.
First (1) click on the drop-down for Accent 1 and choose the color (for example, orange). Then (2) give a Name to the adjusted color scheme (e.g., “Change Color”) and (3) press Save.

After this, colors in the whole workbook are adjusted according to these changes. As you can see in the picture below, the table colors are changed from blue to orange.

Change Font

In a similar way, you can also change the fonts of a theme. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In the Ribbon, (1) go to the Page Layout tab, then (2) click on Fonts in the Themes group and (3) choose Customize Fonts.

2. In the pop-up window, set up a font for heading or body text. For this example, (1) set the Body font to “Caveat.” Now (2) give a Name to the modified font settings (e.g., “Custom Font”) and (3) Save it.

You can see in the picture below how the color and font changed according to the theme customization.

Save the Custom Theme

If you want to use the adjusted theme later and/or in other Excel workbooks, save it as a custom theme.

1. In the Ribbon, go to the Page Layout tab, then choose Themes and click on Save Current Theme.

2. In the pop-up save window, choose a name for the custom theme (e.g., “Custom Theme”). The theme will be saved as a file in .thmx format.

By default, it will be saved in the folder with Microsoft Document Themes and can be used in all Excel workbooks in the future. If you later go to apply a theme (Page Layout > Themes), you’ll see that now there is a Custom section with the new Custom Theme offered.

Change and Customize the Theme in Google Sheets

You can also change and adjust the theme in Google Sheets. To do this, follow the next steps.

1. In the Menu, go to Format > Theme.

2. On the right side of the screen, choose a theme.

As a result, the chart theme is changed.

You can also customize the selected theme.

1. Click on Customize in the Themes window to change the default theme.

2. Now you can change font style, chart backgrounds, and texts. (1) Change Chart Background color to light blue, (2) then change Accent 1 to red, and (3) click Done.

As a result, the customized theme is applied to the Google Sheets chart.

Do you need to change the sheet tab colors in your workbook? This post is going to show you all the ways to change the tab color of your sheets in Microsoft Excel.

Excel lets you customize your workbooks in a variety of ways. One popular way to visually organize your worksheets is to change the color of the sheet tabs.

Using different colors for sheets that contain inputs, data, calculations, reports, or visuals can be a helpful way to arrange your workbooks. You might also have a sheet for each month of the year and distinguish each quarter by color.

Excel makes it easy to change tab colors, and doing so can help users keep track of important information.

By changing the tab color, users can quickly identify which sheets contain what type of information.

Get your copy of the example workbook used in this post and follow along!

Change the Sheet Tab Color with a Right Click

The most straightforward way to change your sheet tab color is with the right-click menu.

When you right-click on any sheet tab, you will see various options including changing the color.

Follow these steps to change your sheet tab color.

1. Right-click on the sheet tab to which you want to change the color.
2. Select the Tab Color option from the menu.
3. Choose a color option.

Your sheet tab will now be colored.

📝 Note: the color that is displayed on the tab will usually be a lighter shade than the chosen color while the tab is selected. Select any other tab and the chosen color will be prominently displayed.

If you want more selection than the Standard Colors or Theme Colors, you can select the More Colors option.

This will open the Colors menu and you will be able to more precisely pick your color from a color map or provide the exact RGB or Hex code for the color.

Remove the Sheet Tab Color a Right Click

If you need to remove any coloring you’ve applied to your tab, you can also do this with the right-click menu.

Follow these steps to remove the color from a tab.

1. Right-click on the sheet from which you want to remove the color.
2. Choose Tab Color from the options.
3. Chose No Color from the options.

The color is removed from your selected tab!

Change the Sheet Tab Color with the Home Tab

These color tab options are also available in the Home tab of the ribbon.

Follow these steps to change the sheet tab color from the Home tab.

1. Select the sheet to which you want to change the tab color. It should be the active sheet in the workbook.
2. Go to the Home tab or the ribbon.

1. Click on the Format command found in the Cells section.
2. Choose the Tab Color option from the menu.
3. Choose your desired color.

Your active sheet tab will now be colored with the chosen color!

Change the Sheet Tab Color with a Keyboard Shortcut

There is no dedicated keyboard shortcut for changing the tab colors, but you can access the Tab Color menu by using the Alt hotkey shortcuts.

Press the Alt key and the ribbon will show you what key will access the different commands in the ribbon.

Press the Alt, H, O, T sequence to open the Tab Color options menu.

1. Pressing Alt will activate the hotkeys.
2. Pressing H will select the Home tab in the ribbon.
3. Pressing O will select the Format command from the Cells section.
4. Pressing T will open the Tab Color menu.

Once you have the Tab Color menu open, you can use the arrow keys to select a color option. Press the Enter key to confirm the color choice and change your tab color.

You can also press the M key at any time for the More Colors menu.

Change Multiple Sheet Tab Colors at the Same Time

If you need to change the color or many sheets, you definitely wouldn’t want to do it manually for each sheet. That would take a lot of clicks!

Thankfully, you can change the color of multiple sheet tabs at once!

Change Multiple Adjacent Sheet Tab Colors

You can select multiple adjacent tabs and then change the color.

1. Select the first tab.
2. Hold the Shift key.
3. Select the last tab.
4. Right-click on the last tab.
5. Choose the Tab Color option from the menu.
6. Choose the color for all your selected tabs.

All the selected tab colors are changed!

Change Multiple Non-Adjacent Sheet Tab Colors

You can select multiple non-adjacent tabs and then change the color.

1. Select the first tab.
2. Hold the Ctrl key.
3. Select any other tabs.
4. Right-click on the last tab.
5. Choose the Tab Color option from the menu.
6. Choose the color for all your selected tabs.

All the selected tab colors are changed!

Change All Sheet Tab Colors

There is a quick way to select all the tabs in your workbook. You can then change the color for all the selected sheets.

1. Right-click on any tab.
2. Choose the Select All Sheets option from the menu.
3. Right-click on any sheet.
4. Choose the Tab Color option from the menu.
5. Choose the color for all your selected tabs.

Now all the sheet tab colors have been changed!

💡 Tip: This is a great way to change all but one or two tab colors. After all the sheets are selected, hold the Ctrl key and click on any tab to deselect it.

Change the Sheet Tab Color with VBA

Changing the sheet tab color is something you can automate!

Suppose you want to change the tab color for all sheets named with a certain prefix. You can get this done with a bit of VBA code.

Go to the Developer tab and select the Visual Basic command to open the visual basic editor. You can also press the Alt + F11 keyboard shortcut to open the VBA editor.

💡 Tip: Check out this post to learn how to show the Developer tab in your ribbon.

Go to the Insert menu in the editor and select the Module option.

Sub ChangeTabColor()
Dim ws As Worksheet
    For Each ws In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
        If Left(ws.Name, 4) = "2021" Then
            ws.Tab.Color = RGB(0, 176, 80)
        End If
    Next ws
End Sub

Now you can paste the above code into the new module.

This code will loop through each sheet in the workbook and check if the sheet name starts with 2021, and if so, the tab color is changed. Otherwise, nothing is changed.

The color is set based on the RGB code and these values can be changed as needed to achieve different colors.

You can also adjust the "2021" in the above code to whatever text you need. For example, Left(ws.Name, 1) = "A" would check if the sheet name started with A.

When you run this VBA code, all the matching sheets will get their color updated.

Remove the Sheet Tab Color with VBA

You can also remove the tab color using VBA code.

All you need to do is change this line of code ws.Tab.Color = RGB(0, 176, 80) with this line ws.Tab.Color = False.

This will set the tab color to No Color.

Change the Sheet Tab Color with Office Scripts

Office Scripts is a JavaScript language for Excel but is only available in the web version with a Microsoft 365 business subscription.

If you are using Excel online and need to automate your tasks, this is the tool you need!

You can also automate your tab color changes with Office Scripts.

Go to the Automate tab in Excel online and select the New Script command.

function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook) {
	let sheets = workbook.getWorksheets();

	for (let sheet of sheets) {
		if (sheet.getName().startsWith('2021')) {
			sheet.setTabColor('FF0000');
		};
	};
}

This will open the Office Scripts Code Editor and you can place the above code and press the Save script button.

This code loops through all the sheets in the workbook and will change the tab color if the sheet name starts with 2021. It will change the tab color based on the hexadecimal color code supplied in the code.

In this example, the hex code is FF0000 so the tabs will be updated with a red color, but you can change this hex code based on your needs.

Remove the Sheet Tab Color with Office Scripts

You can also remove any tab colors that have been applied to your workbook with a slight change to the code.

Replace this line of code sheet.setTabColor('FF0000'); with this line sheet.setTabColor('');.

This will set the tab color to No Color.

Conclusions

Changing the sheet tab color is a great way to visually organize your Excel spreadsheets.

There are several ways to manually change the color from the right-click menu, Home tab, and using the hotkey shortcuts.

Changing multiple sheet colors at the same time is also possible. You can select multiple sheets and then change the color for all that are selected.

The colors on your sheet tabs can also be automated through VBA and Office Scripts when you need to deal with many sheets or you need to color code sheets in many workbooks.

Do you use this tab color feature? Do you know any other tips for changing the sheet tab colors? Let me know in the comments below!

In this lesson we will learn how to change the color of a table in Excel. For this, we will initialize the original table from the previous lesson by formatting the background and cell borders.

Immediately go over to practice. We select the whole table A1:D4.

On the «Home» tab, click on the «Borders» tool, which is located in the «Font» section. From the drop-down list, select the option «All borders».

Now again in the same list, select the option «Thick outer border». Next, select the range A1:D1. In the same section of the tools, click on «Fill color» and point to «Dark Blue». Next, in the «Text color» tool, point «White».



The example of changing the color of tables

The pictures show the process of changing the boundaries in practice:

You can also change the color of a table in Excel using the more functional tool.



Select again the entire table A1:D4. Press the hotkey combination CTRL + 1 or CTRL + SHIFT + F. The multifunction dialog box «Format Cells» will appear.

First go to the «Border» tab. In the «Presets» toolbar of this tab, click the «Inside» button. Now in the line type section, select the thickest line (second from the bottom in the right column). If necessary, set the color for the borders of the table below. Then go back to the «All» section and click on the «Outline» button. To confirm the border formatting settings, click OK.

Also we can make a colors text. Select the headings of the original table A1:D1. Open the «Format Cells» window. At present go to the «Font» tab and in the text color field select «Yellow». To change the color of the selected cell in Excel, click the «Fill» tab and click on «Black». To confirm the change of the format of the cells, click OK. Pasting cells in Excel allows you to select a row or column by color.

As you can see in the «Format Cells» window there are multiplicity of tools, that expand the possibilities of formatting data.

The helpful advice! Format the data in the last place: so you will save your working time.

The formatting opens up wide possibilities for data exposure. There are the changing fonts and sizes of text, setting background colors and patterns, paint border colors and select the type of their lines, etc. But if you slightly overdo with the color change a little, the Excel sheet becomes colorful and unreadable.