Jim from Montreal calls in today to ask if there is any way to change the grey background lurking behind your workbooks in Excel. While there is a setting that will adjust this background, it also annoyingly changes many other items as well. Episode 390 shows you how.
This blog is the video podcast companion to the book, Learn Excel from MrExcel. Download a new two minute video every workday to learn one of the 277 tips from the book!
This blog is the video podcast companion to the book, Learn Excel from MrExcel. Download a new two minute video every workday to learn one of the 277 tips from the book!
Transcript of the video:
Hey, welcome back to the MrExcel netcast, I'm Bill Jelen.
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend if you're in the States, we're back doing netcasts this week.
And hey, if you happen to be in Green Bay, Wisconsin, I'm going to be out there this Thursday November 30th doing a seminar all day.
Stop by the mrexcel.com website, we'd love to have you stop by the seminar, it'll be a great day.
We have a call today from Jim in Montreal, if you have a call, you can call us: 866-581-0221, leave a message on voicemail.
Now someone pointed out, they said “Hey, you know, what if we're outside in the United States, it costs a fortune to call?” You can always send your question to Pub@MrExcel.com and I'll be happy to read it on the air and get your question.
So, here's our question today: “Hi Bill, it’s Jim from Montreal.
I worked with a lot of windows in Excel.
And when I'm moving around windows, sometimes rearranging them, the grey background in the back, it’s very hard see where I'm positioning the window.
I just want to know is there any way to change the grey background in Excel?
OK, thanks a lot!” Alright, so Jim's question is, you know, usually we come into Excel and Excel’s taking up the whole worksheet.
But if we resize that down, then we have a gray background back here, and is there any way to change it?
Well, there is a way to change it, but I think the change is even worse than what you're dealing with right now.
You have to go to Start and then Control Panel and choose Display.
In the Display settings there's five tabs across the top, you want the 4th tab, the Appearance tab, and then click the Advanced button.
In the Advanced button there's several different settings that you can change, under the 3D objects then we want to change the color, so you can choose a different color, maybe, you know white or something.
Let's pick a kind of a yellow color here, click OK, and then click Apply.
And if we switch back to Excel, you'll see that they changed the grey background, but unfortunately they've also changed a whole bunch of other things.
Like the grey row numbers and the grey and the column letters, also the scrollbars.
Unfortunately, when you change that grey background, you're changing a whole bunch of other great things in Excel, which to me this would actually be far worse than anything else.
So, well it's possible to change, I'm not sure that you like the other repercussions of things that have to change.
So, there you have it, thanks to the call, if you have a call for Excel, feel free to give us a call: 866-581-0021, and we'll get to you on a future netcast!
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend if you're in the States, we're back doing netcasts this week.
And hey, if you happen to be in Green Bay, Wisconsin, I'm going to be out there this Thursday November 30th doing a seminar all day.
Stop by the mrexcel.com website, we'd love to have you stop by the seminar, it'll be a great day.
We have a call today from Jim in Montreal, if you have a call, you can call us: 866-581-0221, leave a message on voicemail.
Now someone pointed out, they said “Hey, you know, what if we're outside in the United States, it costs a fortune to call?” You can always send your question to Pub@MrExcel.com and I'll be happy to read it on the air and get your question.
So, here's our question today: “Hi Bill, it’s Jim from Montreal.
I worked with a lot of windows in Excel.
And when I'm moving around windows, sometimes rearranging them, the grey background in the back, it’s very hard see where I'm positioning the window.
I just want to know is there any way to change the grey background in Excel?
OK, thanks a lot!” Alright, so Jim's question is, you know, usually we come into Excel and Excel’s taking up the whole worksheet.
But if we resize that down, then we have a gray background back here, and is there any way to change it?
Well, there is a way to change it, but I think the change is even worse than what you're dealing with right now.
You have to go to Start and then Control Panel and choose Display.
In the Display settings there's five tabs across the top, you want the 4th tab, the Appearance tab, and then click the Advanced button.
In the Advanced button there's several different settings that you can change, under the 3D objects then we want to change the color, so you can choose a different color, maybe, you know white or something.
Let's pick a kind of a yellow color here, click OK, and then click Apply.
And if we switch back to Excel, you'll see that they changed the grey background, but unfortunately they've also changed a whole bunch of other things.
Like the grey row numbers and the grey and the column letters, also the scrollbars.
Unfortunately, when you change that grey background, you're changing a whole bunch of other great things in Excel, which to me this would actually be far worse than anything else.
So, well it's possible to change, I'm not sure that you like the other repercussions of things that have to change.
So, there you have it, thanks to the call, if you have a call for Excel, feel free to give us a call: 866-581-0021, and we'll get to you on a future netcast!
