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How to Highlight in Excel

Colorize your data for maximum impact

By Brad Stephenson Brad Stephenson Freelance Contributor Western Sydney University Brad Stephenson is a freelance tech and geek culture writer with 12+ years' experience. He writes about Windows 10, Xbox One, and cryptocurrency. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on November 11, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email MS Office Excel Word Powerpoint Outlook

What to Know

To highlight: Select a cell or group of cells > Home > Cell Styles, and select the color to use as the highlight.To highlight text: Select the text > Font Color and choose a color.To create a highlight style: Home > Cell Styles > New Cell Style. Enter a name, select Format > Fill, choose color > OK. This article explains how to highlight in Excel. Additional instructions cover how to create a customized highlight style. Instructions apply to Excel 2019, 2016, and Excel for Microsoft 365.

Why Highlight

Choosing to highlight cells in Excel can be a great way to make sure data or words stand out or increase readability within a file with a lot of information. You can select both cells and text as a highlight in Excel, and you can also customize the colors to suit your needs. Here’s how to highlight in Excel.

How to Highlight Cells in Excel

Spreadsheet cells are the boxes that contain text within a Microsoft Excel document, though many are also completely empty. Both empty and filled Excel cells can be customized in a variety of different ways, including being given a colored highlight. Open the Microsoft Excel document on your device. Select a cell you want to highlight. To select a group of cells in Excel, select one, press Shift, then select another. Alternatively, you can select individual cells that are separate from each other by holding down Ctrl while you select them. From the top menu, select Home, followed by Cell Styles. A menu with a variety of cell color options pops up. Hover your mouse cursor over each color to see a live preview of the cell color change in the Excel file. When you find a highlight color that you like, select it to apply the change. If you change your mind, press Ctrl+Z to undo the cell highlight. Repeat for any other cells that you want to apply a highlight to. To select all of the cells in a column or row, select the numbers on the side of the document or the letters at the top.

How to Highlight Text in Excel

If you just want to highlight text in Excel instead of the entire cell, you can do that too. Here’s how to highlight in Excel when you just want to change the color of the words in the cell. Open your Microsoft Excel document. Double-click the cell containing text you want to format. If you're having trouble performing a double-click, you may need to adjust your mouse sensitivity. Press the left mouse button and drag it across the words you want to colorize to highlight them. A small menu appears. Select the Font Color icon in the small menu to use the default color option or select the arrow next to it to choose a custom color. You can also use this menu to apply bold or italics style options as you would in Microsoft Word and other text editor programs. Select a text color from the pop-up color palette.
The color is applied to the selected text. Select elsewhere in the Excel document to deselect the cell.

How to Create a Microsoft Excel Highlight Style

There are a lot of default cell style options in Microsoft Excel. However, if you don’t like any of the available choices, you can create your own personal style. Open a Microsoft Excel document. Select Home, followed by Cell Styles. Select New Cell Style. Enter a name for the new cell style and then select Format. Select Fill in the Format Cells window. Choose a fill color from the palette. Choose the Alignment, Font or Border tabs to make other changes to the new style and then select OK to save it. You should now see your custom cell style at the top of the Cell Styles menu. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Use the ISBLANK Function in Excel How to Strikethrough In Excel How to Merge and Unmerge Cells in Excel How to Make a Brochure in Microsoft Word How to Highlight and Find Duplicates in Google Sheets How to Use the COUNTIF Function in Excel How to Make a Schedule in Excel How to Combine Two Columns in Excel Change the Display Color in Word How to Create Your Own Certificates With Word Templates How to Use the MONTH Formula in Excel How to Apply Background Colors to Tables in Word How to Use Text Formatting and Images in Apple Mail Signatures How to Calculate Percentage in Excel How to Sort Data in Excel How to Split Cells in Excel Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies