Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007 Plain & Simple

Adding Cell Backgrounds and Shading

Sometimes creating or applying a workbook theme is too much work. If all you want to do is highlight the value in a cell by changing the cell’s background to red, you shouldn’t go to the trouble of finding the theme that includes red as one of its colors. Instead, you can simply change the background color of cells to make those cells stand out. Be sure there’s enough contrast between the background and text colors, however. Very little is worse than having to squint at the monitor to read text that blends in with the background color.

Add Background Color

1. Select the cells you want to change.

2. Click the Home tab. ...