How to Remove (or Add) Fill Color in Google Sheets

To remove fill color in Google Sheets, select the colored cells, click the Fill color button (the paint bucket) in the toolbar, and click Reset at the top of the color palette. To add color, select the cells, click Fill color, and pick a color. If the color stays after a reset, it is probably coming from conditional formatting, alternating colors, or a table style, and each of those has its own off switch.

These steps are for Google Sheets in a web browser on a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook, with a shorter section for the Android, iPhone, and iPad app. You need edit access to the spreadsheet. Google lists the fill color tool on its Edit & format a spreadsheet help page.

How to Remove Fill Color in Google Sheets

Fill color is the background color of a cell. Removing it does not change the text, numbers, or formulas inside the cell.

1. Open your spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Select the colored cells. Drag across a group of cells, or hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and click cells that are not next to each other. Click a column letter or a row number to select the whole column or row.
3. Click the Fill color button in the toolbar. It looks like a tipped paint bucket. If the browser window is narrow, the button may be tucked behind the More (three dots) button at the end of the toolbar.
4. Click Reset above the color swatches.

The background color disappears from the selected cells, and the borders, fonts, and number formats stay as they were. The Reset button is described by a volunteer Product Expert in the Google Docs Editors Community. Google Sheets has no button named No Fill, so Reset is the one to use.

Changed your mind? Press Ctrl + Z (Cmd + Z on a Mac) right away to bring the color back.

How to Add Fill Color to Cells, a Row, or a Column

1. Select the cells you want to color. For a full row, click its row number on the left. For a full column, click its column letter at the top.
2. Click Fill color in the toolbar.
3. Click a color in the palette.

The selection takes the new background color immediately. Google notes that the colors from your spreadsheet theme also appear in the fill color picker. To change a color later, repeat the steps and pick a different one. The new color replaces the old one, so you do not need to reset first.

Use an exact custom color

If you need a specific brand or report color, Google’s Change the color of text, objects, and backgrounds page explains how to create one. A Hex code is a six-character color code such as #E6F4EA, and RGB is the same color written as three numbers for red, green, and blue.

1. Select your cells and click Fill color.
2. Under Custom, click Add a custom color.
3. Enter the Hex code or the RGB values.
4. Click OK.

Google says a custom color you create can then be used anywhere else in that file. The same menu has Pick a custom color, an eyedropper that copies a color from anywhere on your screen. Google lists the eyedropper as supported in the Chrome and Edge browsers only.

How to Add or Remove Fill Color in the Google Sheets App

The Android and iPhone and iPad versions of Google’s help page give the same route for the mobile app.

1. Open the spreadsheet in the Google Sheets app.
2. Tap a cell, then drag the blue markers across the other cells you want to select.
3. Tap Format at the top of the screen.
4. Open the Cell tab.
5. Tap Cell fill color and choose a color.
6. Tap the sheet to save your change.

Google’s mobile instructions list Cell fill color but do not describe a reset control, and the app’s layout changes between versions. Look for a reset or no-color choice in the fill color palette. If you cannot find one, tap Undo at the top of the screen right after a color change, or open the spreadsheet in a browser on a computer and use Reset there.

How to Add or Remove Alternating Colors

Alternating colors, sometimes called banded rows, shade every other row so a long list is easier to read. Google lists it as the second option of the fill color tool, next to single color. It is a style applied to a range, so the Reset button does not clear it. For long lists, it also helps to freeze the header row in Google Sheets so the column labels stay in view.

1. Select the range of data.
2. Click Format > Alternating colors. A panel opens on the right side of the window.
3. To add banding, choose one of the styles and click Done.
4. To remove banding, click Remove alternating colors at the bottom of the panel.

If your data is inside a table (the feature you get from Format > Convert to table), the banding belongs to the table. Google’s Use tables in Google Sheets page says to click Format > Table formatting, where the sidebar lets you remove or change the alternating colors. The table menu next to the table name also has a Show alternating colors option and a Table header color setting.

Why Will the Fill Color Not Go Away?

Reset only removes a color that someone applied by hand. If a cell stays colored, or the color comes back when the value changes, a feature is applying it. Work through these checks in order.

Conditional formatting is coloring the cell

Conditional formatting is a rule that changes a cell’s text or background color when the cell meets a condition, such as containing a certain word or a number below zero. Google’s Use conditional formatting rules in Google Sheets page gives the removal steps.

1. Select one of the cells that stays colored.
2. Click Format > Conditional formatting. The rules for that cell appear in a panel on the right.
3. Point to the rule and click Remove (the trash can).

Removing a rule takes its color off every cell the rule covered, so read the rule’s range before you delete it. If you only want a different color, click the rule instead and change its formatting style. Google also notes that when you copy and paste cells that have rules, the rules come along. That is a common reason color shows up in a part of the sheet where nobody set it. To build a rule on purpose, see how to make cells red when a number is negative.

The color is alternating colors or a table style

If every other row is shaded, use Remove alternating colors or Table formatting as described in the section above.

The Fill color button is missing or grayed out

• Narrow window: widen the browser window or click More (three dots) at the end of the toolbar.
• Hidden menus: if the toolbar and menus are gone, see how to unhide the menu in Google Sheets.
• View or comment access: Google states that people who can only view or comment on a spreadsheet cannot make changes. Ask the owner for edit access, or click File > Make a copy and format your own copy.
• Protected range or sheet: an editor can restrict who may change certain cells. Click View > Show > Protected ranges to see them with a striped background. Google covers this on its Protect, hide & edit sheets page. You will need the person who set the protection to change it or to make the edit.

Reset leaves the cells white instead of clear

The person who started the community thread linked above reported that Reset turned some cells white in a file imported from Excel. Google has not documented that behavior, so treat it as one user’s report. Two tools can help. The first is Paint format, which Google documents as a way to copy the formatting of one cell onto others: select a cell that looks the way you want, click Paint format (the paint roller) in the toolbar, then drag across the cells to fix. Paint format copies all of the source cell’s formatting, including its font and borders, so choose a source cell that matches. The second is Clear formatting, covered next.

How to Remove Fill Color and All Other Formatting at Once

Warning: Clear formatting resets more than color. It also resets things like bold text, font size, borders, and number formats such as currency or dates in the selected cells. Your data stays. Use it when you want plain cells, not when you only want the color gone. If the reset shrinks your text, here is how to make the font bigger in Google Sheets again.

1. Select the cells.
2. Click Format > Clear formatting, or press Ctrl + \ on Windows or ChromeOS, or Cmd + \ on a Mac. Google lists both shortcuts on its keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets page.
3. Check the result. If it removed too much, press Ctrl + Z or Cmd + Z.

Our guide on how to clear formatting in Google Sheets goes through this tool in more detail.

How to Find Every Colored Cell in a Long Sheet

In a large sheet, colored cells can be scattered across hundreds of rows. A filter can gather them. Google’s Sort & filter your data page describes it.

1. Select the range and click Data > Create a filter.
2. Click the Filter button at the top of a column.
3. Choose Sort by color or Filter by color, then Fill color, and pick the color. Sorting moves those cells to the top of the range. Filtering shows only the rows with that color.
4. Select the colored cells and use Fill color > Reset.
5. Click Data > Remove filter when you are done.

Google says you can sort and filter by conditional formatting colors, but not by alternating colors. Keep in mind that a filter you add is visible to everyone who has access to the spreadsheet, so remove it when you finish.

FAQs

Is there a No Fill option in Google Sheets?

Not by that name. In Google Sheets on a computer, the Reset button at the top of the Fill color palette removes the fill color from the selected cells. It does the job that No Fill does in Excel.

Does Reset remove borders or bold text?

No. Reset in the Fill color palette only affects the background color. Borders are removed from the Borders button, and Format > Clear formatting resets everything at once. See how to add or remove borders in Google Sheets for the border steps.

Is there a keyboard shortcut for fill color in Google Sheets?

Google’s keyboard shortcut list for Sheets does not include one for adding or removing fill color. The closest listed shortcut is Ctrl + \ (Cmd + \ on a Mac), which clears all formatting, not just the color.

Why did the color come back after I removed it?

A conditional formatting rule is the usual cause. The rule checks the cell again every time its value changes and applies the color when the condition is met. Click Format > Conditional formatting with the cell selected, then remove or edit the rule.

Does removing fill color delete my data?

No. Fill color is formatting only. Reset, Clear formatting, and removing a conditional formatting rule all leave the values and formulas in the cells unchanged.

Can I remove fill color from a whole sheet at once?

Yes. Press Ctrl + A (Cmd + A on a Mac) to select all cells, then click Fill color > Reset. Colors from conditional formatting or alternating colors will remain until you remove those separately.

Next Step

Once the colors are the way you want them, tidy up the rest of the sheet. Our guide on borders in Google Sheets covers the lines around your cells, and conditional formatting can apply colors for you so you do not have to fill cells by hand.