Highlight cells

Unlike other Microsoft Office programs, such as Word, Excel doesn't provide a button that you can use to highlight all or individual portions of data in a cell.

However, you can mimic highlights on a cell in a worksheet by filling the cells with a highlighting color, such as the Note style. If you prefer to choose your own colors, you can mimic a highlight by creating a custom cell style that you can apply to fill cells. Then, after you apply that cell style to highlight cells, you can quickly copy the highlighting to other cells by using Format Painter.

If you want to make specific data in a cell stand out, you can display that data in a different font color or format.

Create a cell style to highlight cells

1. Select Home > Cell Styles > New Cell Styles.

2. In the Style name box, type an appropriate name for the new cell style.

   Tip

   For example, type Highlight.

3. Select Format.

4. In the Format Cells dialog box, on the Fill tab, select the color that you want to use for the highlight, and then select OK.

5. Select OK to close the Format Cells dialog box.

6. Select OK to close the Style dialog box. The new style is added under Custom in the cell styles box.

7. On the worksheet, select the cells or ranges of cells that you want to highlight. Select cell contents in Excel.

8. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, select Cell Styles, the new custom cell style you created.

Use Format Painter to apply a highlight to other cells

1. Select a cell that is formatted with the highlight that you want to use.
2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, double-click Format Painter , and then drag the mouse pointer across as many cells or ranges of cells that you want to highlight.
3. When you're done, select Format Painter again or press ESC to turn it off.

Display specific data in a different font color or format

1. In a cell, select the data that you want to display in a different color or format.
   How to select data in a cell

   To select the contents of a cell	Do this
   In the cell	Double-click the cell, and then drag across the contents of the cell that you want to select.
   In the formula bar	Select the cell, and then drag across the contents of the cell that you want to select in the formula bar.
   By using the keyboard	Press F2 to edit the cell, use the arrow keys to position the insertion point, and then press SHIFT+ARROW key to select the contents.

2. On the Home tab, in the Font group, do one of the following:

   • To change the text color, select the arrow next to Font Color  and then, under Theme Colors or Standard Colors, select the color that you want to use.
   • To apply the most recently selected text color, select Font Color .
   • To apply a color other than the available theme colors and standard colors, select More Colors, and then define the color that you want to use on the Standard tab or Custom tab of the Colors dialog box.
   • To change the format, select Bold , Italic , or Underline .
     Keyboard shortcuts:  You can also press CTRL+B, CTRL+I, or CTRL+U.