Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Finding Cells Filled with a Particular Color.
Vanita asked if there is a way to select cells containing a specific color. (I'm talking background color here, not text color.) Accomplishing the task is easy; just follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
Figure 2. The Fill tab of the Find Format dialog box.
Figure 3. The expanded Find and Replace dialog box.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6224) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Finding Cells Filled with a Particular Color.
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2021-06-22 10:14:30
J. Woolley
@John Rogers
Your question does not apply to this Tip, but the setting you want is independent of applications. Use Windows Settings > Time & Language > Region. Or use Control Panel > Region.
2021-06-21 07:39:06
John Rogers
Hi Allen,
I love reading your tips, but I have yet to find one that will address my problem. Considering the complexity of some of your published tips, this will probably be trivial, but I have wasted many hours resetting dates by hand - column by column. I've come across systems (for instance when I was working in the public service* - now retired) where entered dates automatically appear in the Austalian (or English) notation - ie. dd.mm.yy(yy), but Word and Open Office automatically fprmat as mm.dd.yy(yy) which is great if you prefer the US format, but I don't. Could you please tell me how this can be achieved?
* Those I asked at work and at Head office, either didn't know or weren't interested in helping
2021-06-15 07:57:33
Geza
Hello,
Unfortunately the above described search is only working if the the entire text of a cell (or maybe the first word?) has a particular color. Is there a way to find the cell if only one word is colored?
Thank you very much in advance.
BR,
Geza
2020-10-12 04:40:57
Peter Atherton
Philip
Although having no problems with color blindness, I've always tended to look for cells that meet a particular criterion. The color of cells is usually set to meet some such criterion anyway. However, following your post I googled the problem and found a very interesting article that may help you in the future to select the correct colors for say, a chart, or the cells in a sheet.
https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/#5
There are several templates you can download to help you design future graphical designs that I think everyone needs to consider. The easiest one is to consider using patterns with your color!
HTH
2020-10-11 06:00:33
PHILIP
I HAVE A PROBLEM OF COLOR BLINDNESS. I WANT TO FIND THE CELLS IN MY EXCEL SHEET WHICH HAS THE SAME COLOR.I CAN ONLY SELECT THE FIRST CELL WHICH CONTAINS THE COLOR I WANT TO SEARCH ...IS THERE ANYWAY WE CAN DO IT
2018-08-20 17:21:50
Zolt
This wasn't working for me either (Excel 2016). Then I noticed that my Find Format had other parameters set (Number, Alignment, Font, etc), probably sticky from a previous find action. When I cleared them (Clear button on each tab), the instructions in the article worked as advertised.
2016-08-05 06:33:40
Willy Vanhaelen
@Christine
Perhaps the background color is set by conditional formatting. Find doesn't work on these.
If that is the case you can change the background color by editing the rule
- in the Home tab of the ribbon click the down arrow next to Conditional Formatting
- select Manage Rules...
- click on the rule whose format you want to change
- click Edit Rule...
- click Format
- select the color you want
2016-08-04 17:39:56
Chrisitne
I have Excel 2013 and my find feature will not find background color. I have tons of cells with one color that I need to change to another color. I do just like it says, but when I hit "Find all", it runs through my worksheet and says it cannot find anything. I choose the color by actually clicking on a cell, so I know it's exactly the correct color. Any ideas?
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
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