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
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:
Figure 1. The New Formatting Rule dialog box.
=MOD(ROW(),2)=0
Figure 2. The Fill tab of the Format Cells 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:
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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.
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