Table Styles

Learning Outcomes

  • Apply table styles.

One very common task in Excel is to format a table with a particular style. The controls for table styles are found in the Styles group of the ribbon under the Home tab.A blank Microsoft Excel sheet is open. There is a large green arrow pointing toward where the different style options are.

There are many default table styles within Excel, as shown in the screenshot below. Among other uses, styles let you apply color schemes to tables that can make them more readable. In order to apply a particular table style:

  1. Select all the cells that belong in your table.
  2. Click on the “Format as Table” button.
  3. Choose which table style to apply.
A Microsoft Excel sheet is open with text in cells A1 through C3. There are three boxes each a different color matched with a number. The first box is green and shows how you can select all the cells that belong in your table that you are creating. The second is a pink box demonstrating where the format as a table button is. The third is from a dropdown menu from the format as a table button and shows which table style to apply.

Select all the cells that belong in your table. Click on the “Format as Table” button. Choose which table style to apply.

In the screenshot example, each column is a particular type of information (Last name, First Name, Address). These are known as headers. When applying the table style, be sure to check the box if your table has headers that you have already entered.

Practice Question

A Microsoft Excel sheet is open with text in cells A1 through C3. The format as a table dialog box has been opened. There is a green arrow pointing to the option on the dialog box to ensure that the table that is being create has headers.

Practice Question

Your final table would look something like the table below using the options shown in the screenshots.

A Microsoft Excel sheet is open with text in cells A1 through C3. Row 1 from A through C has become the header for a table.