SUMMARY
This step-by-step article describes how to change the
default colors in Microsoft Excel for items such as the worksheet tabs, sheet
background, and worksheet tab fonts. Because Excel uses Microsoft Windows
colors for several of its elements, you can change these colors for Excel by
changing the Windows colors.
NOTE: When you change the Windows colors, the changes are global for
your computer and affect all programs. It is not possible to change the
settings for individual Excel workbooks.
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Change Default Colors
To make changes to these default colors in Excel, follow these
steps:
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
- Double-click the Display icon, click the Appearance tab, and then click the item that you want to change in the Item list.
- After you make the changes that you want, click OK.
You can then click the color and font color that you want for
each item:
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3D Objects
The
3D Objects item sets the background color of the Excel row numbers and
column letters, and also all inactive sheet tabs. The font color sets the color
of the row numbers and column letters, and the text on inactive sheet tabs.
Note that it is not possible to make each sheet tab a different
color.
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Selected Items
The
Selected Items item sets the color of the highlighting that Excel uses to
indicate which cells are selected. This highlighting is a muted version of the
color that you specify.
NOTE: The color of the border around the selected cells is a bold
inverse color, based on the workbook gridline color. For more information about
changing the gridline color, see the
Change the
Gridline Color section later in this article.
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ToolTip
The
ToolTip item sets the default background color for worksheet comments.
The font color sets the default color for comment text. You can also change the
background and font colors for individual comments.
For more
information about changing comment colors, click
Microsoft
Excel Help on the
Help menu, type
format comments in the Office
Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click
Search to view
"Change the appearance of a comment."
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Window
The
Window item sets the sheet background color. The font color sets the
default color for data that you type in cells, and the color of the text on the
active sheet tab. You can also change font and background colors for individual
cells or an entire sheet.
For more information about changing colors
of cells and worksheets, click
Microsoft Excel Help on the
Help menu, type
format worksheets in the Office
Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click
Search to view the topics returned.
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Change the Gridline Color
To change the gridline colors in Excel, follow these steps:
- On the Tools menu, click Options.
- Click the View tab. Under Window options, choose the color that
you want in the Color list (below the Gridlines check box).
- Click OK.
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