How to change default colors in Excel 2000

This step-by-step article describes how to change the default colors in Microsoft Excel for items such as the worksheet tabs, sheet background, and worksheet tab fonts. Because Excel uses Microsoft Windows colors for several of its elements, you can change these colors for Excel by changing the Windows colors.

NOTE: When you change the Windows colors, the changes are global for your computer and affect all programs. It is not possible to change the settings for individual Excel workbooks.

Change Default Colors

To make changes to these default colors in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Display icon, click the Appearance tab, and then click the item that you want to change in the Item list.
3. After you make the changes that you want, click OK.

You can then click the color and font color that you want for each item:

3D Objects

The 3D Objects item sets the background color of the Excel row numbers and column letters, and also all inactive sheet tabs. The font color sets the color of the row numbers and column letters, and the text on inactive sheet tabs. Note that it is not possible to make each sheet tab a different color.

Selected Items

The Selected Items item sets the color of the highlighting that Excel uses to indicate which cells are selected. This highlighting is a muted version of the color that you specify.

NOTE: The color of the border around the selected cells is a bold inverse color, based on the workbook gridline color. For more information about changing the gridline color, see the Change the Gridline Color section later in this article.

ToolTip

The ToolTip item sets the default background color for worksheet comments. The font color sets the default color for comment text. You can also change the background and font colors for individual comments.

For more information about changing comment colors, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type format comments in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view "Change the appearance of a comment."

Window

The Window item sets the sheet background color. The font color sets the default color for data that you type in cells, and the color of the text on the active sheet tab. You can also change font and background colors for individual cells or an entire sheet.

For more information about changing colors of cells and worksheets, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type format worksheets in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.

Change the Gridline Color

To change the gridline colors in Excel, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click the View tab. Under Window options, choose the color that you want in the Color list (below the Gridlines check box).
3. Click OK.