Change the look of a table

You can change the appearance of a table by applying a different table style to it, and by changing the table outline, showing or hiding grid lines, and using alternate row colors.

Apply a different style to a table

The easiest way to change the appearance of a table is to apply a different table style to it. You can apply a different style to a table at any time.

  1. Click the table.

  2. Click the Table tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar on the right, or it doesn’t have a Table tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Select a different style from the options at the top of the tab.

    Click the arrows on the left and right to see more styles.

If you made changes to your table’s appearance before applying a different table style, the new table style retains those changes. To override those changes when you apply a new style, Control-click the table style, then choose “Clear Overrides and Apply Style.”

Revert changes to a table style

If you made changes to a table’s appearance—for example, changing the border of table cells—you can revert the changes back to the original table style.

  1. Click anywhere in the table.

  2. Click the Table tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar on the right, or it doesn’t have a Table tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Control-click the table style you want to reapply, then choose “Clear Overrides and Apply Style.”

Change the table outline and grid lines

  1. Click the table.

  2. Click the Table tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar on the right, or it doesn’t have a Table tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Do any of the following:

    • Change the outline: Change the line type, thickness, and color, using the Table Outline controls.

    • Change the grid lines: Click the Grid Lines buttons to add or remove grid lines from the table body, from the header rows and columns, and from footer rows.

Change the border and background of table cells

You can change the border and background of any selection of table cells.

  1. Select the cells you want to change.

    To change all the cells in a table, select the table.

  2. Click the Cell tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar on the right, or it doesn’t have a Cell tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Do any of the following:

    • Change cell borders: In the Border section, click one of the buttons below Border to choose the cell borders you want to format, then click the Border Styles pop-up menu and choose a border style.

      To create a custom cell border, click a border layout option in the Border section, then use the controls to specify a custom style, color, and thickness.

    • Change the background: In the Fill section, click the color well, then select a color option. To customize the background, click the disclosure triangle next to Fill, then use the controls to make further changes.

      Controls for choosing a fill color

You can also create rules to automatically change a cell’s appearance when the value in the cell meets certain conditions. For more information, see Add conditional highlighting to cells.

Alternate row colors

  1. Click the table.

  2. Click the Table tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar on the right, or it doesn’t have a Table tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Select the Alternating Row Color checkbox, then click the color well to select a color.

Row colors don’t alternate for header columns. Header columns have their own appearance based on the table style you choose.