
Select all the rows you want to add the alternate colors. This feature only colors the alternate rows, and if you want to color the specific Nth rows, there is still no better option than conditional formatting. Otherwise, the only other option was to manually apply the color format to cells in each alternate row.įortunately, they have developed a separate option through the Format menu to color the alternate rows. Previously, if you wanted to color the alternate rows you only had conditional formatting as an option in combination with a custom formula.

Add Alternating Row Color from the Format Menu Keeping your entire dataset visible on-screen might also be possible by zooming in or out as needed. This way when you scroll down or to the right, they will still be visible. Since this data set is quite wide, it can be hard to keep track of which row you are looking at and you might end up mixing up data when scanning through a row.Īdding alternating colors will help you distinguish between rows as you read from left to right.Īnother great option for making it easier to read your dataset is to freeze the column or row headings. The data looks as shown in the screenshot above. Order ID, Order Date, City where the transaction happened, Province, Country, Item Category, Item sold, Quantity, Base Price, Sale Price, and Line Total.Suppose you are an analyst who manages the inventory for your organization and comes with data every now and then that has the following columns. Get the example workbook to follow along. There are several ways to color alternate rows inside Google Sheets, and you will learn all of these tips to make your data more readable. You can add alternate colored rows inside Google Sheets and make the selection look like a standard table-like structure. If you are working with data with multiple columns and thousands of lines, the standard black and white layout can be difficult to read. It sometimes compromises the readability of the data.

There is no such option under Google Sheets to add a table for a selected range. One thing Google Sheets lack is the ability to add table objects to store your data.
