Google Sheets is a widely utilized online cloud-based spreadsheet alternative from everyone’s favorite online corporate juggernaut. It looks and feels much like Excel, but rather than coming as an expensive office suite or as an annoying annual subscription, Sheets is completely free. Of course, it doesn’t have the full range of powerful features that Excel can deploy, but for 90% of users it gets everything done that you could ask for.
One important feature that Sheets does support is the ability to assign styles to the cells within each spreadsheet. In particular, many people want to increase the border width of their cells and format things they way they like. In this article, I will provide a tutorial on how to increase the width of your cell borders, as well as a few other formatting tips.
Increase border width in Google Sheets
Like most operations within Google Sheets, changing border width is relatively simple. Options for increasing border width are limited but there are enough choices to let you make a table stand out.
- Select the cell range for which you want to increase the border width.
- Select the Borders menu icon at the top of the sheet (it looks like a four squares as one square).
- Select border style icon then choose the style you want from the dropdown menu.
- Choose the border option you want to apply.
That’s all you have to do! Your selected cells should now have a different style of border around them. You can repeat these steps for any cell selection of any shape you like.
Change border color in Google Sheets
Another way to make a table stand out is to change the cell border color from standard black. This allows the cell pop out of the screen and makes it center of attention. This is ideal if you have key data you want to display and emphasize visually.
- Select the cell range you want to modify.
- Select the Borders quick menu icon at the top of the sheet.
- Select the pencil icon from the menu then click on the border color of your choice. Change the color to something that will stand out and fit within the theme.
- Choose from the border options to apply changes.
Your table should now have a different color border and stand out from the rest of the sheet. It is a good way to ensure the data you want will get the attention it deserves.
Change cell color in Google Sheets
Changing cell color is a useful way of separating different data sets or highlighting tables in a different way. It’s also useful for larger sheets with multiple tables.
- Select the cell range you want to modify.
- Select the Fill menu icon in the top menu.
- Select the color you want to use.
- Click it and the selected cell backgrounds should change color.
Do you have any great tips or techniques for formatting data in Google Sheets? Share them with us in the comments below!
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