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Excel

Step 1 - Using the Formatting toolbar

The quickest way to apply shading to your cells is to use the Fill Color drop-down command on the Formatting toolbar.

 Fill Color - Applies a colour to the background of the current selection. The toolbar displays the last colour that you applied to your cells.

This drop-down menu is actually a tear off toolbar and can be treated like a toolbar.

You can shade your cells using this toolbar as well as chart objects and shapes.

Step 2 - Using the (Format > Cells) dialog box

You can include a background colour with your pattern by choosing a colour from the Cell Shading box.

Select a background color in the Color box, and then select a pattern in the Pattern box to format the selection with color patterns.

The sample pane will preview how your background, pattern and colour will look.

Step 3 - Available Patterns

There are 18 types of pattern available.

Step 4 - Pattern Toolbar

There is actually a Pattern toolbar that can be used if you want to have quick access to these pattern styles.

The command to display this toolbar though is not available from any of the conventional toolbars or menus.

It is only available from the Customize dialog box and must therefore be added to an an existing toolbar (or menu).

Step 5 - Things to Remember

It is not possible to change the colours from this dialog box. If you want to change the colours on your palette then you must use the (Tools > Options)(Color tab).