Excel® 2013 On Demand

Understanding Color Themes

A theme helps you create professional-looking workbooks that use an appropriate balance of color for your workbook content. You can use a default color theme or create a custom one.

Themes in Excel are made up of a palette of twelve colors. These colors appear on color palettes when you click a color-related button, such as Fill Color or Font Color button on the Home tab or in a dialog box. These twelve colors correspond to the following elements in a workbook:

Four Text and Background. The two background colors (light and dark combinations) are the canvas, or drawing area, color of the worksheet. The two text colors (light and dark combinations) are for typing text and drawing lines, and contrast with the background ...