selection bar color

[kcreevy]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

The selection bar in Excel is so pale that I can barely see which cells are highlighted. I thought that changing the color in the Control Panel Appearance system preferences would help. (And I even found that here, see below).

The problem is that no matter what color I change to in the Control Panel, the Excel selection bar remains about a 90% transparency of that color - way too pale to see. How can I intensify the color in the selection bar?

Thanks.

KC

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

Hello everyone.

I'm using Excel 2008. One anoying thing is the pale blue selection cell color
once is so pale that sometimes I can't actually see any diference when I have
colorized borders, even the black color. Is there any way to change this color
puting live red or another more destacable and easely notable color?

Thank you for your time and attention!

Excel gets it highlight color from the system preferences. Change it in the
appearance pane, and the quit and restart Excel.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

The problem is that no matter what color I change to in the Control Panel,
the Excel selection bar remains about a 90% transparency of that color - way
too pale to see. How can I intensify the color in the selection bar?

I don't see this on my machine - the default color set is pretty pale,
but you can select "Other" in the System Preferences/Appearance pane's
Highlight Color dropdown and choose a darker color.

Just be aware that this will then be the same color used in Finder and
every other app that uses the default highlight color.

 

[kcreevy]

Thanks for your reply.

Your point is exactly my problem. When I select "other" on the Control Panel, and choose a custom color for the Finder and all other apps, that color gets bleached out in the Excel program.

Currently, the selection bar is such a dark burnt orange color that I can barely read through it in any other app (including an edit I just made to this message) but in Excel it is an extremely washed-out shade of peach.

My current solution is to reset the color in the Control Panel to something very very dark every time I work in Excel, then set it back to something I can read through in other programs whenever I'm done with the spreadsheet. Surely there must be a better way?!?

Thanks again.

KC

 

[kcreevy]

Thanks for your reply.

Your point is exactly my problem. When I select "other" on the Control Panel, and choose a custom color for the Finder and all other apps, that color gets bleached out in the Excel program.

Currently, the selection bar is such a dark burnt orange color that I can barely read through it in any other app (including an edit I just made to this message) but in Excel it is an extremely washed-out shade of peach.

My current solution is to reset the color in the Control Panel to something very very dark every time I work in Excel, then set it back to something I can read through in other programs whenever I'm done with the spreadsheet. Surely there must be a better way?!?

Thanks again.

KC

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Your point is exactly my problem. When I select "other" on the Control Panel,
and choose a custom color for the Finder and all other apps, that color gets
bleached out in the Excel program.

Currently, the selection bar is such a dark burnt orange color that I can
barely read through it in any other app (including an edit I just made to
this message) but in Excel it is an extremely washed-out shade of peach.

My current solution is to reset the color in the Control Panel to something
very very dark every time I work in Excel, then set it back to something I
can read through in other programs whenever I'm done with the spreadsheet.
Surely there must be a better way?!?

Don't know of any for XL08 - the border of the selection should be the
color chosen in the Appearances pane. For multicell selections, all
cells other than the active cell will be a paler shade of that color.

I don't see it as being 90% washed out - more like 40-50%, but your
experience is obviously different, and I'm not sure why.

The effect seems the same to me as in XL04, but there are VBA solutions
that can be used instead.

 

[kcreevy]

Thanks again.

I'm not sure what you mean by VBA solutions - like a macro to tell Excel to change the selection bar color when I launch it? I'm not sure how to create one of those...

Also, I am using this program on a laptop - maybe it is something about the LCD display that is contributing to the problem?

KC

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I'm not sure what you mean by VBA solutions - like a macro to tell Excel to
change the selection bar color when I launch it? I'm not sure how to create
one of those...

I'm talking about an event macro that changes the background color in
selected cells (I'm not really sure what you mean by "selection bar").
But it's irrelevant since you're using XL08.

Also, I am using this program on a laptop - maybe it is something about the
LCD display that is contributing to the problem?

I use a laptop as well.

 

[CyberTaz]

If it's a Macbook Pro fn+F1/F2 will decrease/increase screen brightness. I'm
sure other Mac laptops have a similar capability. Perhaps that may help.