How to Add Background Color to Tables in Microsoft Word

Spruce up your reports with vibrant hues

If you’re stuck on how to add a splash of color to your document, tables are a great way to break up text and draw attention to key points in Microsoft Word. Not only do they look aesthetically pleasing, but color can help structure the visual hierarchy of your work as well.

Microsoft Word makes it easy to change the background color of your table. You can color already existing tables, or create new ones from scratch. It doesn’t matter if the data is already written in the table. Changing the background color of a cell, row, column, or entire table, won’t affect its content. So In this blog post, we’ll give you all the tips and tricks for sprucing up your table designs with vibrant colors that will make them stand out from the page.

Add a Color With Shading

To add a background color with Shading, you just need to select the parts of the table you want to color. You can use this method to add more than one color to the table. Here is how:

You can also select only a single cell simply double-click on it. If you want to select an entire row or a column, click on the last or first cell and drag the cursor to where you want to end the selection.

If you want to select multiple non-continuous table cells, pressCtrland then select the cells you want to color by double-clicking.

Now you can customize the color of your table by taking the following steps:

This is one way to color the background of your Word table and it’s pretty straightforward. However, there is more than one way of accessing theShadingbutton:

Use Table Styles

You can use Table Styles to change the color of a table. Mind you, these styles are something like presets, theme colors, or templates. You’ll choose a template for a whole table, but you can later edit it, add more colors, or change the existing colors. This method works only on an entire table, but you can change the color of its cells or rows later, using the method described above.

Table styles can be beneficial if you don’t have time to design your tables. You can simply choose the preset and it will change not only the background color but the entire look of your table, including borders, cells, and headers.

Add Color With Borders and Shading

Adding background color to the Microsoft Word table withBorders and Shadingis best used on already existing tables.

  1. To customize the background color, go toMore Colorsand select a color from the pallet, or import the custom RBG code.

  2. Now you can choose the tint percentage of the chosen color by selecting theStyledrop-down arrow.

  3. You can also go to theApply todrop-down menu and chooseCellto apply the coloring only to the table selection. If you chooseTable, the color will be added to the entire table.

Once you’re done selecting the color and parameters, clickOKto return to the table. The changes will automatically be applied.

Add Background Color With Page Borders Design Tab

The last method of adding a background color to the table might feel redundant. However, it is an option and some people might feel it more natural to add color to their tables this way. Although very similar to the previously described method, you’ll find thePage Borders Designtab more conveniently placed on the ribbon.

This will open theBorders and Shadingwindow. From here you can set the color and parameters by using the steps described in the previous method. Let’s repeat them just in case:

And that’s it!

Now you know four different ways to add a background color to your Microsoft Word tables. Adding a background color to tables in Word is a great way to visually organize content. With the simple steps provided above, you can apply backgrounds and borders to tables with ease. Now, your documents will be easier to read for everyone.

Nicolae is a Jack of all trades technology writer with a focus on hardware, programming languages, and AI image-processing software. Over the last five years, he has ghostwritten numerous tech how-to guides and books on a variety of topics ranging from Linux to C# programming and game development. Nicolae loves everything that has to do with technology and his goal is to share his knowledge and experience with others.Read Nicolae’s Full Bio

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