Excel: Color every second line - how it works

With the help of conditional formatting, you can easily color every other line gray or in any color in Excel. We'll show you how it works.

Excel: Color every other line

1. Mark the area in which you want to color every second cell.
2. Under Start, click Conditional Formatting and choose New Rule.
3. Click "Use formula to determine cells to format".
4. Enter the formula "= REST (ROW (); 2) = 0" or "= REST (COLUMN (); 2) = 0" in the corresponding field, depending on whether you have selected a range over several rows or columns to have. The formula returns "TRUE" if the number of the row or column is divisible by 2 with no remainder.
5. Click "Format". Under "Fill in" you can choose the desired color. Confirm with OK".
6. Confirm the second window with "OK".
7. You can change or delete formatting rules via "Conditional formatting"> "Manage rules".

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