Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 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: Shading Rows with Conditional Formatting.

Shading Rows with Conditional Formatting

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 8, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


4

If you haven't tried out the conditional formatting features of Excel before, they can be quite handy. One way to use this feature is to cause Excel to shade every other row in your data. This is great when your data uses a lot of columns and you want to make it a bit easier to read on printouts. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Select the data whose alternating rows you want to shade.
  2. Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
  3. Click the Conditional Formatting tool. Excel displays a series of choices.
  4. Click New Rule. Excel displays the New Formatting Rule dialog box.
  5. In the Select a Rule Type area at the top of the dialog box, choose Use a Formula to Determine Which Cells to Format. (See Figure 1.)
  6. Figure 1. The New Formatting Rule dialog box.

  7. In the formula space, enter the following formula:
  8. =MOD(ROW(),2)=0
    
  9. Click on the Format button. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box.
  10. Make sure the Fill tab is selected. (See Figure 2.)
  11. Figure 2. The Fill tab of the Format Cells dialog box.

  12. Select the color you want used for the row shading.
  13. Click on OK to close the Format Cells dialog box.
  14. Click on OK to close the New Formatting Rule dialog box.

You may wonder why anyone would use conditional formatting to highlight different rows of a table when you can use the table formatting feature (available in the Styles group of the Home tab of the ribbon) to accomplish the same thing. The reason is simple—using conditional formatting provides much more flexibility in the formatting applied as well as in the interval of the rows being shaded.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7363) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Shading Rows with Conditional Formatting.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Managing Comments

If you frequently add comments to cells in a worksheet, Excel provides a variety of tools you can use to manage those ...

Discover More

Searching by Columns, by Default

Do you often want to search through a worksheet by column rather than by row? Excel defaults to searching by row, of ...

Discover More

Sending Drawing Objects to the Back or Front

Not only can you place drawing objects in your worksheets, but you can organize those objects so some are in front and ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Shading Based on Odds and Evens

You can use conditional formatting to add shading to various cells in your worksheet. This tip shows how you can shade ...

Discover More

Coloring Identical Company Names

Want to know where duplicates are in a list of names? There are a couple of ways you can go about identifying the ...

Discover More

Changing Shading when a Column Value Changes

If you have a data table in a worksheet, and you want to shade various rows based on whatever is in the first column, ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 9 - 7?

2023-07-11 03:56:45

Enno

OK. I thought, that "shading" is a sort of darker line around the cells.
Yes, I am old enough to remember these papers.


2023-07-10 06:09:00

Steve Jez

Enno,
IMO there is no real difference, shading is generally used to identify rows that are coloured to assist "reading" data, where the data extends across a number of columns. Generally a lighter colour is used in these situations so as not to be too distracting.
If you're old enough, think of the green & white fan fold printer paper of the 80's used in the dot matrix printers.


2023-07-10 02:31:19

Enno

Can you tell me, what the difference is between "to fill" and "to shade".?
I used the description here and got cells, that are completely filled with the used color. Where ist the "shade"?

EPG


2023-07-08 05:01:31

Steve Jez

If you just need to shade alternate rows then you could use
=ISEVEN(ROW()) or =ISODD(ROW())
you can then use whichever suits your first shaded row.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.