How to Color the Tabs in Your Workbook in Excel

How to Color the Tabs in Your Workbook in Excel

If you have a lot of worksheets in your Excel workbook, you may want to make them more visible and organized by changing the color of the tabs at the bottom. This can help you quickly find a particular sheet or group related sheets by color. In this article, we will show you how to change the tab color in Excel using three easy methods: right-clicking, using the ribbon, and using a keyboard shortcut.

Method 1: Right-Clicking

One of the simplest ways to change the tab color in Excel is to right-click on the tab and select a color from the Tab Color option. Here are the steps to follow:

Right-click on the tab that you want to change the color of.
Move your mouse over the Tab Color option. A palette of Theme Colors and Standard Colors will display on the colors submenu.
Click on a color to select it, or click on More Colors if you want a color that is not on the palette.
Click away from the formatted tab to see the new tab color.

If you want to remove the color, right-click on the tab, move your mouse over Tab Color, and pick No Color.

You can also change the color of multiple tabs at once, as long as they are adjacent to each other. To do this, click on the first tab that you want to select, then press and hold Shift and click on the last tab that you want to select. Then, right-click on any of the selected tabs and choose a color from the Tab Color option.

If you want to select multiple tabs that are not next to each other, you can press and hold Ctrl and click on each tab that you want to select. Then, right-click on any of the selected tabs and pick a color from the Tab Color option.

Method 2: Using the Ribbon

Another way to change the tab color in Excel is to use the ribbon. This method is similar to the right-clicking method, but it uses a different menu. Here are the steps to follow:

Make sure that the tab that you want to change the color of is active. You can do this by clicking on it.
Make sure that the Home tab is active on the ribbon. You can do this by clicking on it or pressing Alt + H.
Click Format in the Cells section of the ribbon.
Move your mouse over Tab Color. A palette of Theme Colors and Standard Colors will display on the colors submenu.
Click on a color to select it, or click on More Colors if you want a color that is not on the palette.
Click away from the formatted tab to see the new tab color.

If you want to remove the color, click Format in the Cells section of the ribbon, move your mouse over Tab Color, and pick No Color.

You can also change the color of multiple tabs at once using this method. To do this, select multiple tabs using Shift or Ctrl as explained in Method 1. Then, click Format in the Cells section of the ribbon and choose a color from Tab Color option.

Method 3: Using a Keyboard Shortcut

The third way to change the tab color in Excel is to use a keyboard shortcut. This method is useful if you prefer using keyboard commands instead of mouse clicks. Here are the steps to follow:

Make sure that the tab that you want to change the color of is active. You can do this by clicking on it or using Ctrl + Page Up or Page Down keys.
Press Alt + H + O + T in succession (pressed separately, one after another - do not hold any of these keys down). The Alt key displays shortcut keys on title bar and tabs above ribbon. The H key selects Home tab. The O key opens Format menu. The T key opens Tab Color submenu.
Use arrow keys or mouse pointer to select a color from palette or press M key for More Colors option.
Press Enter key or click away from formatted tab to see new tab color.

If you want to remove color, press Alt + H + O + T keys in succession and press N key for No Color option.

You can also change color of multiple tabs at once using this method. To do this, select multiple tabs using Shift or Ctrl as explained in Method 1. Then, press Alt + H + O + T keys in succession and choose a color from Tab Color submenu.

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown you how to change tab color in Excel using three easy methods: right-clicking, using ribbon, and using keyboard shortcut. Changing tab color can help you make your worksheets more visible and organized. You can apply different colors to different tabs or group related tabs by same color. You can also remove colors if you don’t need them anymore.

References:

¹: How to Change Color of Worksheet Tabs in Excel ¹ ²: Add a Background Color to a Sheet Tab ² ³: How to Change Tab Color in Excel ³