Guidelines?

[Ian James]

I would like to set odd and even rows in Excel with clear and darker
background colors in order to better read long rows of numbers. I know I
can do this manually by setting background of rows individually.

My first question is whether there is a way to set this automatically for an
entire worksheet?

My second question is how those alternate shadows are called. Do we usually
talk about guidelines, grid lines or something else?

 

[Ragdyer]

Check out default formats at:

<Format> <AutoFormat>
And scroll down to see all your choices, including those shadowed 3D
appearance rows.

This can also be accomplished with Conditional Formatting.

Check out Chip Pearson's site:

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/banding.htm

 

[Earl Kiosterud]

I think that's covered in www.cpearson.com, www.contextures.com, and/or
other Excel web sites. It uses Conditional formatting.

 

[Bernard Liengme]

Click on the square at the top left where row and column labels intersect:
this selects all the sheet
Use Format|Conditional Formatting
In left box, select Formula is, and enter this =MOD(ROW(),2)=1, now click
Format button and select a fill colour for odd rows
Click ADD and repeat but use =MOD(ROW(),2)=0 for the second formula and
chose a colour for even rows
best wishes