In this article, I’m going to show you how to color every other row in Google Sheets. It’s a simple technique that can help you organize and manage your data more effectively. So let’s dive right in!
Color Every Other Row (Static Range)
1. Highlight the entire table
Start by selecting the range of data you want to format. You can do this by clicking and dragging your mouse, or by identifying the top-left and bottom-right cells.
2. Click on Format
In the top row of Google Sheets, you’ll find the “Format” option. Click on it to proceed.
3. Select Alternate Colors
Choose the “Alternate colors” option from the menu. Your table will now have a new look with alternating colors for each row.
How to change the color of alternate rows
After selecting “Alternate colors” from the main “Format” menu, a sidebar titled “Alternate colors” will appear on the right-hand side of Google Sheets. This sidebar contains options to change the colors of every other row.
Default Styles
You can choose one of the default styles by clicking on any of the options within the “Highlighting” section.
Create a custom color style for alternate rows
Alternatively, you can create your own custom color styles by clicking on the color picker for each style element:
- Select the range of the table you want to format.
- Click on the color picker for each element and choose a color.
- Click on the small box with a plus sign above the elements to save the style.
- Click on “Done”.
Your table will now have a new custom look with alternating row colors!
Color Every Other Row (Dynamic Range)
If you want to apply alternate row colors to a dynamic range of data that is constantly being updated, you can use conditional formatting. This ensures that empty rows won’t have alternate row colors, maintaining the organization of your document. Here are the steps:
1. Select the range of data
Select the range of data by clicking and dragging your mouse, or by identifying the top-left and bottom-right cells. For larger ranges, you can simply select the entire columns containing the data.
If you have a header row and want to give it a different color, do not include it in the range. For our example, we want to assign a different color to the header.
2. Click on Format, then select Conditional formatting
Make sure the range is highlighted when you perform this step.
3. Add the formula in Conditional formatting
The Conditional formatting sidebar will appear. Select “Custom formula is” in the formatting rules.
In the text box that appears, add the following formula:
=AND(NOT(ISBLANK($A2)), ISODD(ROW()))The mention $A2 marks the top-left cell of the range. Modify it according to the actual range of your data.
4. Change the fill color
Click on the “Fill color” icon under the “Formatting style” label in the sidebar, then select a color from the palette.
5. Click on “Done”
If you included the header row in step 1, you’ll get the following result:
[Image]
If you didn’t include the header row, you’ll get the following result:
[Image]
To give the header row a color, follow the next step.
6. Optional: Set the header row color via “Fill color”
Select the header row, click on the “Fill color” icon in the main toolbar, then choose a color from the palette.
You can see how the conditional formatting changes as the number of rows with values changes.
For more Google Sheets tips and tricks, don’t forget to visit Crawlan.com, your go-to resource for all things Google Sheets!
Now that you know how to color every other row in Google Sheets, you can organize your data more efficiently and make it visually appealing. Try this handy trick today and see the difference it can make in your work with Google Sheets!
