In this Microsoft Excel tutorial, you’ll learn how to change the Excel background color.

Changing the background color in Excel is like designing your office space—it’s a small change that greatly impacts functionality and style. But without a clear guide, it can feel as overwhelming as setting up a workspace without a blueprint.

I’ll help you simplify the process by breaking it down into clear, actionable steps to take full control of your spreadsheet’s appearance. Whether you’re highlighting critical data or improving readability, this guide will help you confidently customize your Excel workbooks.

Using the Office Background Tool

The Office Background is the built-in Excel tool to manage the look and feel of your Excel desktop installation. It’s only available in the Excel desktop app. So, you can’t use it in Excel for the web app.

To give it a try, click on the File tab and select Account in the left-side navigation panel.

You’ll see the Account window.

Click on the Office Background drop-down arrow and select an item from that list.

You can see the updated Excel background in the top right corner of the app window.

If you can’t see any change in the background, the application theme needs an adjustment.

Click on the Office Theme drop-down menu just below the Office Background section.

Select the White theme.

Now, you should be able to see the Excel background changes clearly.

Here are the other Excel background modifications you can use by changing the selection in the Office Theme menu:

• Dark Gray: The Excel windows become dark while the ribbon menu gets a grayish outlook.
• Black: The entire Excel user interface becomes black except for the worksheet area.
• Use system setting: The user interface will change automatically depending on the current global visual settings applied in Windows.
• Colorful: The user interface gets a greenish look.

You must note that the Excel background artwork is only visible when you’re in the Excel backstage view, which is the File menu.

If you don’t see the background design when working on a worksheet, that’s the intended design.

Using the Windows Colors Setting

Sometimes, you might set a custom global themes setting in Windows to change the overall app windows from white to dark and vice versa depending on the time of the day.

In that case, go to the File menu in an Excel workbook.

Click Account and select the Use system setting option in the Office Theme drop-down list.

You can test if this setting would work or not by pressing the Windows + I keys to bring up the Settings app.

Select Personalization in Settings.

Click on the Colors option in the left side panel.

Select the Dark mode.

You’ll see that the Excel user interface has also become dark.

Using the Excel Preferences on a Mac

The steps to customize the Excel background are a bit different in the Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac app. You can follow these instructions to implement the changes quickly.

Open your Excel workbook and click on the Excel menu in the Mac toolbar.

Click on the Preferences menu.

On Excel Preferences, click on General in the Authoring section.

Choose between the Colorful or Aluminium display option in the Office theme drop-down menu.

If you wish to change the window color of your Excel Mac app according to the macOS global dark and light Appearance settings, uncheck the check box for the Turn off Dark Mode setting.

Contrarily, keep the Turn off Dark Mode setting checked if you wish to use the light mode in Excel irrespective of the macOS global Appearance settings.

Close Excel Preferences and the changes will be saved automatically.

Conclusions

Now you know how to change the Excel background color on Windows and macOS Excel apps. Also, you’ve learned how to enable certain Excel background settings that allow you to automatically change the appearance of the app depending on the system appearance setting, like dark and light modes.

If you’ve learned a new Excel skill today and wish to share feedback, comment below. Also, don’t forget to share if you know any secret tricks and tips to customize the Excel background in Windows or Mac.