By You can add emphasis to selected cells in an Excel 2010 worksheet by changing the fill color or applying a pattern or gradient effect to the cells. If you’re using a black-and-white printer, restrict your color choices to light gray in the color palette and use a simple pattern for cells that contain text so that the text remains legible. Applying a fill color To choose a new fill color for a cell selection, follow these steps:.
On the Home tab, in the Font group, click the Fill Color button’s drop-down menu. The Fill Color palette appears. Select a new pattern for a cell selection on the Fill tab of the Format Cells dialog box. Click a pattern swatch from the Pattern Style button’s drop-down menu. Click a pattern color from the Pattern Color button’s drop-down palette.
The Sample box displays the selected pattern and color. (Optional) To add a fill color to the background of the pattern, click its color swatch in the Background Color section. Applying a gradient effect To add a gradient effect to a cell selection, follow these steps:. Press Ctrl+1 to open the Format Cells dialog box and then click the Fill tab. Click the Fill Effects button. The Fill Effects dialog box appears, with controls that enable you to define the two colors to use, as well as shading style and variant.
In the Create New Theme Colors dialog box, under Sample, you can see the effect of the changes that you make. Repeat step 3 and 4 for all of the theme color elements that you want to change. Office 2016 Preview has an additional color theme to select from versus Office 2013, and they are different than Office 2010 and lower. Here’s a look at what they are, and how to change them.
Use the Fill Effects dialog box to apply a gradient effect to selected cells. Select the two colors you want to use in the Colors section. Select one of the Shading Styles options to choose the type of gradient pattern you want to use; then click the variant that you want to use.
The Sample box displays the current selections. Click OK two times to close both dialog boxes. You can remove fill colors, patterns, and gradients assigned to a cell selection by clicking the No Fill option on the Fill Color button’s drop-down menu on the Home tab.
Excel allows you to use a wide variety of colors in your worksheets. These colors are maintained in a palette, which you can see by choosing Tools Options Color tab.
The palette contains up to 56 colors, 40 of which are 'standard' colors (i.e., they are available from anywhere in Excel), and 16 of which are used for various purposes in charts. You may have a need to define and use a custom color in Excel.
For instance, your company may have a logo that uses a particular color, or you may just like to use a custom color for your own purposes. You can define custom colors by following these steps:. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Color tab is selected. (See Figure 1.) Figure 1.
![Colors Colors](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125418312/495881876.png)
The Color tab of the Options dialog box. Click on the color you want to modify. (Your new custom color must replace a color already defined in the palette. You cannot increase the size of the palette.). Click the Modify button.
Excel displays the Colors dialog box. Using the Standard tab, select a color you want to use. (See Figure 2.) Figure 2. The Standard tab of the Colors dialog box.
If you do not see the color you want on the Standard tab, display the Custom tab. Here you can specify the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) or RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values of the color you want to create.
Click OK to close the Colors dialog box. The color at the palette position you selected in step 3 should be changed to your custom color. You can now use the color in your worksheet as you would normally use any other color. You should note that the color you choose to replace or modify in step 3 is important.
If you want your color to be available in most areas of Excel, you should choose a color from among the 40 colors categorized as 'standard' palette colors on the Color tab of the Options dialog box. If you want to use the color in charts, then you should change one of the colors in the other parts of the palette. You may even want to define the color in each of the areas of the palette, so that you get the widest possible use of the color. You should also note that the color palette is stored with the workbook. Thus, the changes you just made using the steps above will affect only the current workbook. If you want the palette to be available in other workbooks, you must copy the palette from one workbook to another, or make the changes within those workbooks, as well. You can copy the palette from one workbook to another by following these steps:.
Open both workbooks—the one you want to copy the palette from and the one you want to copy the palette to. Make sure the workbook you want to copy the palette to is displayed. Choose Options from the Tools menu.
Excel displays the Options dialog box. Make sure the Colors tab is selected.
Use the Copy Colors From drop-down list to specify where you want to copy the palette from. If you want the palette to be available for all future workbooks, you must make the changes to the palette and store them in the default workbook. (See other ExcelTips issues where the default workbook is discussed.).