Fill Color Shortcut

excel-fill-color-shortcut

Use various methods to apply the Excel fill color shortcut to change a cell’s background or shading colors.

This guide demonstrates fill color shortcuts for Excel for Windows versions 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Microsoft 365. If you are looking for keyboard shortcuts to fill a cell quickly, you are at the right place. In this article, we’ll show you the best practices and workarounds.

How to use the fill color shortcut

Steps to apply a fill color shortcut:

  1. Select the cells that you want to color
  2. Press Alt, H, H to open the Fill color menu.
  3. Use the arrow keys to move on the color grid
  4. Select the color that you want to apply
  5. Press Enter to fill in the selected cell or range.

Explanation

To open the Fill Color menu, use the Alt, H, H shortcut. Excel then shows the color palette dialog, where you can view the color palettes, theme, and standard colors.

fill-color-shortcut-key-to-open-the-fill-color-menu-in-excel

Note:

  • Shortcut to use no fill: Alt, H, H, N
  • Shortcut to show more colors on the palette: Alt, H, H, M

This way is a bit faster than the default method (Clicking the Home Tab and using the Colors drop-down menu)

Fill Color Shortcuts Macro

If you are familiar with VBA, we have some good news. VBA makes life easier. I wrote a tiny custom Excel add-in that allows you to assign custom keyboard shortcuts for all purposes. This guide will demonstrate the fastest way to apply a command using a user-defined shortcut key. In the example, you want to use the Excel green color palette for your reports – the Application.Onkey method helps to assign a fill color shortcut key to a color.

Imagine you want to highlight cells with a specific shade of green to indicate certain criteria (e.g., successful results, passed tests). Instead of selecting the fill color from the ribbon every time, you can press a shortcut key that instantly applies the desired color to the selected cells.

fill-color-shortcut-to-excel-palette-add-in

Press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor window and copy the code to ThisWorkBook:

Option Explicit
Private WithEvents appEvents As Application
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Set appEvents = Application
Application.OnKey "+1", "Fill_Green1"
Application.OnKey "+2", "Fill_Green2"
Application.OnKey "+3", "Fill_Green3"
Application.OnKey "+4", "Fill_Green4"
Application.OnKey "+5", "Fill_Green5"
End Sub

Create a new module and add the following code:

Sub Fill_Green1()
Selection.Interior.Color = RGB(51, 196, 129)
End Sub
Sub Fill_Green2()
Selection.Interior.Color = RGB(33, 163, 102)
End Sub
Sub Fill_Green3()
Selection.Interior.Color = RGB(16, 124, 65)
End Sub
Sub Fill_Green4()
Selection.Interior.Color = RGB(24, 92, 55)
End Sub
Sub Fill_Green5()
Selection.Interior.Color = RGB(13, 114, 57)
End Sub

The new shortcut keys are: Shift +1 to Shift +5

Add Fill Color Menu to Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

If you don’t want keyboard shortcuts, pin the Fill Color menu to the Quick Access Toolbar.

  1. Click File > Options
  2. Select the Quick Access Toolbar from the list
  3. Select All commands and choose the Fill color
  4. Add the command to the QAT, then click OK
add-fill-color-menu-to-Quick-Access-Toolbar

The menu appears in the QAT now. From now on, you can use the method mentioned above to select the fill color.

QAT-color-dialog

Steps to using a fill cell color command:

  1. Add the Fill color menu to the QAT
  2. Press Alt, 5 (or position number in the QAT) to open the Fill Color dialog
  3. Use the arrow keys to navigate between colors and select the color
  4. Press Enter to apply the selected color to the cell or range of cells

This is an excellent alternative to the Alt, H, H fill color shortcut. We recommend placing the most frequently used commands in the QAT. Switching between Excel tabs is unnecessary to reach the fill color command.

Repeat the last action using F4 Key or Alt+Enter

Last, you can use the copy formatting command to apply a fill color to a cell.

Steps to apply the Paste Formatting Button on the QAT:

  1. Add the Paste Formatting button to the QAT
  2. Copy the cell (Ctrl + C) that contains the formatting style
  3. Select the destination cell or the range of cells
  4. Press Alt+5 (or the current position number of the QAT button) to apply the formatting
paste-formatting-qat

Use one of the paste special shortcut keys to speed up the task. After pressing Ctrl + C, select the target cell or range and use the Alt, H, V, R Paste Format keyboard shortcut.

alt-h-v-r-paste-special-format

Additional resources