Apply style to Google Sheets

Table Styles provides you with a set of style templates for your tables in Google Sheets. You can quickly select and apply the style, edit it, or create a new one.

• Video: How to style your table in Google Sheets
• Before you start
• How to work with Table Styles for Google Sheets
  • Run Table Styles
  • Apply style to selection
  • Create style from selection
  • Manage table styles
• Related pages

Before you start

Due to a limited access to formatting that Google Sheets provide, the add-on can't "see" the borders you have and can't set any color but black for the added borders. Similar limitations don't let it recognize text alignment and wrapping in the selected range.

How to work with Table Styles for Google Sheets

Run Table Styles

To start the add-on, go to Add-ons > Table Styles in the Google Sheets menu and click the option that suits your task: Apply style to selection, Create style from selection, or Manage table styles:

Apply style to selection

If you chose the first option, you will see a sidebar with a list of table styles pre-supplied by AbleBits:

Tip. You can see the style template name when you point your mouse to it. Once you create your own style templates, you will see them in the Custom styles group at the top:

Follow these simple steps to apply one of the styles:

1. Select the range with your table in the sheet.
2. Pick the style you would like to apply to that range. You'll see a more detailed view of the template with its table elements and colors below the list.
3. Expand the Options group to choose table elements to apply the style to:
   
   If you don't use the left column and total row in your table, you can simply uncheck them in the list to ignore their style.

   Likewise, you can change the number of rows or columns your table element takes to apply the right style to them all. If you use two header rows, set the number of Header row to 2 so that the header style from the template is applied to first two rows.

4. Click on the Apply to selection button to format the range.

Create style from selection

If you picked the second option from the menu, you'll be able to add a new style template. Either create a style from scratch or use the formatting you already have in your sheet.

It takes two steps to get your custom template:

1. Name your style and choose the parts it will have:
   
   You will see a default style name in the Title field. To change it, simply click this field and enter a different name.

   Tick off the checkboxes next to those table units that you want in the style template. You can add header and total rows, first and second row stripes, left and right columns.

   Click Next to decide on the formatting for your style.

2. Set format and save the template:
   
   Tip. When using an existing table style, the add-on will try to automatically define the formatting you selected.
   Note. If the style preview doesn't resemble the original table, click Back and make sure you checked the table parts present in the selected table. The style may also be interpreted incorrectly if some table units take more than one row or column. Please edit the style manually in this case.

   To change the way some table element looks, first select the unit using one of the following ways:

   • Use the Select table element to edit drop-down list.
   • Click on the table element right in the preview table.

   Then use standard tools within the sidebar to set the font, color, borders, text alignment, and other formatting options for the selected individual elements or for the entire table.

   To return the format of the element to the way it was originally recognized, click on the Reset option.

   Note. The current version of Google Sheets doesn't let the add-on recognize your borders, wrap text, and alignment formatting options. You can add the necessary format for the design template when creating it to have such formatting applied to your tables.

   Once you finish editing, click Save to keep the new table style.

   You will see the created template in the list of your custom styles:
   

Manage table styles

Here you will see a sidebar with a list of all your custom templates. You can quickly edit them or delete all unnecessary styles.

1. Point your mouse to the style to see its name:
   
2. Select the table style you'd like to modify and click Edit right below it.
3. To remove it, click on the Delete icon and confirm your action.

Related pages

• Count and sum by color in Google Sheets