How to Change Worksheet Tab Color in Excel (4 Handy Ways)

Looking for ways to change the worksheet tab color in Excel? Then this is the right place for you.

In many cases, we may need to add or change the worksheet tab color in Excel. This helps you identify any worksheet very easily. Also, adding or changing worksheet colors helps categorize the worksheets.

This article demonstrates how to change the worksheet tab color in Excel with 4 methods.

How to Change Worksheet Tab Color in Excel: 4 Handy Ways

Here, we have a workbook containing Sales Datasets of 4 consecutive months of a shop. Worksheets are named after the month of sales it contain.

Now we will use these worksheets to show you how to change the worksheet tab color in Excel. We will use Microsoft Excel 365 version for this article, you can use any other version according to your convenience.

1. Right-Click on the Worksheet Tab to Change Color in Excel

The most common way to change the color of the worksheet tab is to select the worksheet tab and right-click on it. You can change the color of the tab of single or multiple worksheets using this method.

1.1 Single Worksheet

In this method, we will change the color of a single worksheet by right-clicking on the tab to the color Blue. Now, follow the steps below to do so.

• Right-click on the worksheet tab you want to change the color of >> select Tab Color >> select any color of your choice. Here, we will select Blue.

• You will have your output as shown in the below screenshot.

1.2 Multiple Adjacent Worksheets

Now, suppose you need to change the tab color of multiple adjacent worksheets. You can easily do this by selecting those worksheets using a keyboard shortcut and then changing their tab color. Follow the steps given below to do that.

• Select the first worksheet tab you want to color. Here, we selected the January worksheet.
• Then, press Shift and select the last worksheet tab you want to color. In this case, we selected March. This will select all the adjacent worksheets between the selected two sheets. Here, you can notice February named worksheet has already been selected.
• Right-click on any of these worksheets >> select Tab Color >> select any color of your choice. Here, we will select Blue.

• Thus, you can change the worksheet tab color of adjacent worksheets in Excel.

1.3 Multiple Non-Adjacent Worksheets

You can also change the tab color of multiple non-adjacent worksheets by selecting those worksheets using a keyboard shortcut and then changing their tab color. In this case, we will use the Ctrl key to do that.

• Press the Ctrl Key and then select the worksheet tabs you want to change the color.
• Right-click on any of those worksheets >> select Tab Color >> select any color of your choice. Here, we will select Blue.

• Now, you will see the tab color of your selected sheets has been changed.

1.4 All Worksheets

When you want to change the tab color of all the worksheets in a workbook, you can do that by selecting all the sheets first and then changing their tab color instead of doing it one by one. To do that follow the steps given below.

• Select any worksheet tab in your workbook and right-click on it. Here, we will select the January named worksheet and right-click on it.
• Next, click on the Select All Sheets option. This will select all the worksheets in your workbook.

• Right-click on any of the selected worksheets >> select Tab Color >> select any color of your choice. Here, we will select Blue.

• Thus, all the worksheet tab colors will change.

2. Use Format Feature from Home Tab to Change Worksheet Tab Color in Excel

Another method to change the worksheet tab color is to use the Format feature from the Home tab in Excel. However, it requires more steps to access the feature, which can be time-consuming if you need to change the color of multiple worksheets.

Now, to change the worksheet tab color to Blue follow the below steps.

• Select the worksheet tab you want to change the color of >> go to the Home tab >> click on Format >> click on Tab Color >> select any color of your choice. Here, we will select Blue.

• Finally, you will finish changing your worksheet tab color to Blue.

3. Change the Worksheet Tab Color Applying Keyboard Shortcuts

In this method, we will change the color of the worksheet tab by Applying Keyboard Shortcuts to Blue using shortcut keys. This method can be very efficient once you memorize the keyboard shortcuts. You can quickly change the color of multiple worksheets without using the mouse.

Now, to do so follow the below steps.

• Select the worksheet tab Applying Keyboard Shortcuts >> press Alt > H > O > T >> select any color of your choice. Here, we will select Blue.

• Finally, you will have your output as shown in the below screenshot.

4. Use VBA Code to Change Worksheet Tab Color in Excel

Also, you can change the worksheet tab color in Excel using VBA code. It’s very helpful for some particular moments and a time-saving way also.

Now, to change the color of the worksheet tab VBA to Yellow follow the below steps.

• Go to the Developer tab >> click on Visual Basic.

• Now, the Microsoft Visual Basic Editor will open. To add a module, click on Insert >> select Module.

• Copy the following code in your module and go back to your worksheet.

Sub ChangeSheetColor()
Dim Sht As Worksheet
'assigning the variable to a worksheet
Set Sht = Worksheets("VBA")
'changing the sheet tab color
Sht.Tab.Color = vbYellow
End Sub

• Then, go to the Developer tab >> click on Macros.

• Select the ChangeSheetColor named macro and click on the Run button.

• This will change the color of the worksheet tab to Yellow.

How to Remove Worksheet Tab Color in Excel

Sometimes you may require to remove the worksheet tab color. In this case, suppose you want to remove the color of the worksheet tab in January. Now, to do so follow the below steps.

• Right-click on the worksheet tab you want to remove the color of >> select Tab Color >> select No Color.

• Thus, you can finish removing the worksheet tab color in Excel.

Why Can’t You Apply, Change, or Remove the Tab Color?

While changing the worksheet tab color you may run into a problem where you may see that the Tab Color menu is greyed out. As a result, you can not apply the change or remove the tab color of those worksheets.

This may occur if your Excel workbook is a Protected Workbook. Unprotect this file to apply, change, or remove your worksheet tab color.

To unprotect your Excel workbook go to the Review tab >> click on Protect Workbook >> insert your password >> click on OK.

Benefits of Adding Worksheet Tab Colors in Excel

When you add colors to your worksheet tab in Excel it may have the following advantages.

• Create Attractive and Engaging Worksheets: When you add colors to your worksheet tabs it becomes more visually appealing to the clients and helps you engage your audience while presenting your project.
• Sort Data According to Worksheet Tab Color: You may add color to your worksheets according to their content or use. Such as you can use blue for financial data and green for marketing data. This will help you to sort your data more efficiently.
• Highlight Sheets to Increase Focus: Suppose you have a worksheet in your workbook that contains important elements or the main dataset of your project. To highlight this worksheet and increase focus on this sheet you can add a worksheet tab color to this sheet.

Tips for Using Colored Worksheet Tabs in Excel

Here are some tips for using colored worksheet tabs to make them more attractive and meaningful in Excel.

• Use Theme Color: when you are adding colors to multiple worksheets try to use colors from the same Theme colors. This will make your project look cohesive and attractive.
• Try to Maintain Pattern: if you have a large number of worksheets instead of using different colors each time try to use the colors in a pattern such as blue, green, and yellow, or use the colors according to their purpose.
• Add Different Types of Custom Color-coding: try to add different types of highlighting, borders, and gradients while adding colors to your worksheet tabs to make it more attractive. You can also use conditional formatting where the colors of the worksheet tab will change according to the value of that sheet.

Practice Section

For doing practice by yourself we have provided a Practice section like below in another worksheet. Please do it by yourself.

Download Practice Workbook

You can download the practice workbook from the link below.

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown how to change the worksheet tab color in Excel with 4 different methods. Also, we have shown how to remove the worksheet tab color. Last, but not least, we hope you found what you were looking for in this article. If you have any queries, please drop a comment below.

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