Creating Excel color pallete & gradient colours for Excel cells and charts

New color palettes for Excel cells and charts - Excel Colors Manager - Online Help

Color Manager for Microsoft® Excel®

For Microsoft Excel 2003, Excel XP (2002), Excel 2000.

How to work with Color Palette Manager for Microsoft Excel

• How to create a new color palette
• To create a vertical gradient line
• To create a horizontal gradient line
• How to apply an existing palette to the current workbook
• How to color Excel cells
• How to color charts
• How to add the current workbook palette to your collection
• How to return standard Excel colors
• How to remove the palette from your collection

Back to Colors Palette Manager overview

How to create a new color palette

1. Open the Color Palette Manager window by clicking on its icon
2. Click on the color you want to change. The standard color dialog will open.
3. In the Color dialog, select a new color. You can select new colors in 2 ways:
   First way:  Select a new color with a mouse click from Basic colors or rainbow palette and once you did it, click the OK button.
   Second way:
   - Set the Hue, Saturation, Luminosity, Red, Green, Blue, click the Add to Custom Colors button.
   - The selected color will appear under Custom Colors in the lower left part on the Color window.
   - Select this color and click the OK button.
   
4. Click the Apply button to save changes.
5. To save a new color palette in your collection, type its name in the Palette field and click Save.
6. To close Color Palette Manager click the Close button.

To create a vertical gradient line

1. Open the Color Palette Manager window.
2. Click any cell of the top / bottom setup line to choose the first initial color, the second initial color is automatically set to white.
3. You can choose two initial colors by clicking the top and bottom cells in the same vertical line.

To create a horizontal gradient line

1. Open the Color Palette Manager window.
2. Click any cell of the top / bottom setup line to choose the first initial color.
3. Click any cell of the top / bottom setup line to choose the second initial color.
4. Drag the first initial color and drop it into the cell with the second initial color.

The horizontal gradient line is created automatically between the first and the second initial colors, vertical gradient lines are created automatically as well.

How to apply an existing palette to the current workbook

First way:
Select the palette from the Color palette drop-down list

Second way:

1. Open the Color Palette Manager window.
2. Select the palette you need from the Palette drop-down list.
3. Click the Apply button.
4. Click the Close button.

How to color Excel cells

Once a new palette is applied to the current Excel workbook, it replaces the standard Excel palette. You color cells like you normally do, using:

1. The standard Fill Color and Font Color buttons on the Excel toolbar.
2. Format Cells - > Patterns

How to add the current workbook palette to your collection

1. Open the Color Palette Manager window.
2. Select the "Current workbook" color palette from the Palette drop-down list.
3. Name your new palette in the Palette field.
4. Click Save to add your new color palette to the collection.
5. Click the Close button.

How to color Excel charts

1. After you created a chart, select the palette you need from the palette list and then click on the Color Manager icon to open the palette.
2. To change any color on your chart, click on the corresponding color on the palette.
3. This will open the dialog for selecting colors. Select a new color and click OK.
4. Click the Apply button on the main Color Palette window to aply the new color to your chart.
5. Click the Save button to save changes in the Color palette.

How to return standard Excel colors

First way:
Click on the Return standard Excel colors button on the Color Palette manager toolbar.

Second way:

1. Open the Color Palette Manager window.
2. Select the "Standard Excel palette" from the Palette drop-down list.
3. Click the Apply button.
4. Click the Close button.

How to remove the palette from your collection

1. Open the Color Palette Manager window.
2. Select the palette you want to delete from the Palette drop-down list.
3. Click the Delete button.
4. Click the Close button.