Change font color or fill color in an Excel Spreadsheet
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Benefits every Excel user
Save Time
- Simplify establishing or maintaining a color scheme
- Greatly enhances and streamlines a users ability to understand the data presented
- Simplify the process of collaborating with others
- Easily identify variables requiring update
Improve Results
- Easily identify cells containing constants (number, date, or text)
- Easily identify formulas that contain constants
- Easily identify cells with errors
Flexibility
- Change font color or fill color based on specific preferences and style
- Pick any color
- Change color for all data or selected data types
- Select any range to change color
- Option to exclude cells within the selected range
- Option to exclude variables within formulas
Excel Color Tools Features
A consistent color scheme in a spreadsheet greatly enhances and streamlines a user’s ability to understand the data presented.
Excel Color Tools allows a user to easily apply a color scheme, or apply color to specific components of an Excel spreadsheet. The user can perform the following tasks based on and associated with color.
Change color based on cell content, font color, or fill color
Change color in a selected range, the active tab, or the active workbook
Set default and routine color numbers
Exclude cells from evaluation
Designate variables to bypass during cell evaluation
License For Only $49.99!
Change color based on cell content, font color, or fill color
Change color in a selected range, the active tab, or the active workbook
Set default and routine color numbers
Exclude cells from evaluation
Designate variables to bypass during cell evaluation
License For Only $49.99!
Color Tools Ribbon Interface
Excel Color Tools is an Excel add-in with over 75 macros associated with the use of color. User access is through the Color Tools ribbon interface.
Font Color
Change font color based on cell content or a combination of cell content and font color.
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Fill Color
Change fill color based on cell content or a combination of cell content and fill color.
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Errors
Search for errors, count cells containing an error, or list all cells with an error.
Read More
Download Excel
Color Tools
Try Excel Color Tools for free!
- PC Only, Excel 2010 or later (including Office 365), 32-bit or 64-bit
- One time payment for the Premium/Full version of the software used by a single person who uses the software personally on up to three computers.
Watch the video
"Excel Color Tools -
Add-in Installation"
Preparing Excel Color Tools for use requires a few simple steps. Once these steps are completed, Excel Color Tools will be available for use on any open Excel spreadsheet. Watch the video “Excel Color Tools - Add-in Installation” for a step by step demonstration.
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Frequently asked questions
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Every color in the Excel color palette can be identified by an RGB color code, Hex color code, and a color number. Excel Color Tools utilizes the color number. Several of the Excel Color Tools options that provide the color number also provide the associated RGB and Hex color codes for reference.
Instructions on how to install an Excel Add-in are provided with the Excel Color Tools documentation. In addition, please watch the Add-in Installation video provided Here
The use of color and the application of a color scheme in an Excel spreadsheet allows a user the ability to identify at a glance which data is a hard-coded constant (number,date, or text), which data is a formula, and which cells have mixed content (constant combined with a formula). The Spreadsheet Standards Review Board (SSRB)(www.SSRB.org) has established recommended font color guidelines which specify the font color for constants, formulas, and mixed content (combination of constant and formula). The SSRB recommended font colors are blue for constants, black for formulas, and green for mixed content. Whether using SSRB recommended font colors or another font color scheme, with the use of just a few colors a quick review of the spreadsheet can provide a lot of useful information.
I have been using an approach very similar to the SSRB recommendations for years. My font color approach has been to present headers, row descriptions, and formulas in black, and to present data input (numbers, dates, and other variables) as either blue or orange. I use blue font color for data that is a historical known or actual value, and orange font color for estimated or forecasted values.
Sometimes as data is input the proper blue or orange font color is applied, but then something changes. In order to keep temporary track of these changes, I use pink font color to identify the change. Similarly, if I have to add additional rows or columns of detail to a spreadsheet model, I may change the font color of those row and column headings to pink in order to be able to easily identify the changes. As time passes and it is no longer necessary to have the changes identified, I go through a process I fondly refer to as de-pinking the spreadsheet. This simply means to go through the spreadsheet and change all of the data presented in pink font color to its otherwise proper blue, orange, or black font color
The key is not necessarily the specific colors utilized, or the specific uses of each color. The point is using colors to identify data types can have a tremendous benefit to the users of the spreadsheet. However, in more complex spreadsheet models, maintaining these colors adds overhead to the overall process. It requires diligence to maintain a proper color scheme, and it can potentially require many hours of effort to periodically validate the proper usage of font colors and/or de-pink a spreadsheet.
As changes are made to a spreadsheet, having the visibility to the changes can be very valuable information. However, at some point, the de-pinking is a necessary step to clear the stage and reset the spreadsheet such that future changes stand out.
A proper color scheme can result in considerable savings in time and effort needed to understand the data presented in spreadsheets developed for personal use or spreadsheets inherited from others. I once inherited a spreadsheet in which the developer used font color to represent various things, but wasn’t consistent throughout the spreadsheet. While some constants were presented with various font colors, others were presented in black font color. In addition, some formulas contained constants in places constants were not expected. I refer to these as land mines. Situations like this result in the need to systematically review the spreadsheet cell by cell, identifying the type of data contained in each cell and how it was used. The ability to apply a consistent color scheme can have a significant favorable impact on the effort required.
Realistically, we will encounter spreadsheets developed by ourselves or others that do
not have a proper color scheme. We may even have spreadsheets that adhere to a
color scheme for the most part, but as time has passed, we can’t be confident the
spreadsheet completely adheres to the scheme.
It is because of circumstances like these, and many other possible scenarios that Excel
Color Tools was developed.
What our clients say
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