Colour alternating rows in an Excel worksheet – Option 2

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In last week’s tip we looked at how you can use conditional formatting to colour alternate rows in an Excel workbook.

Another way of doing this is to use a Table as alternating rows are automatically coloured in a Table.

To colour alternating rows using a Table:

  1. Select the cells you want to format
  2. On the Home tab in the Styles group, select Format as Table
  3. Choose a colour scheme
  4. Click on OK

There are a few things that are a bit different with a Table but if your data is relatively static it may be a better solution than using Conditional Formatting.

When you create a Table, Excel automatically adds headers and turns on Filter.  Tables have a finite boundary so when you tab across a row and reach the right-hand boundary, the active cell moves to the first cell in the next row.