Datasheet

Changing the Sheet Tab Appearance
Many users don’t realize it, but they can change the appearance of the sheet tabs displayed
in a workbook. This tip describes how to change the size of the text and the color of the
sheet tabs.
Changing the Sheet Tab Color
If your workbook has many sheets, you may find it helpful to color-code the sheet tabs. For
example, you may use red tabs for sheets that need to be checked and use green tabs for
sheets that have already been checked.
To change the color of a sheet tab, right-click the tab, and then select Tab Color from the
shortcut menu. You can then pick a background color from the palette. To change the color
of multiple sheet tabs at one time, press Ctrl while you click the sheet tabs. Then right-
click and change the color. If you select a color from the Theme Colors section of the
palette, the tab color changes if you apply a different document theme (see Tip 13).
When the colored tab sheet is active, the text appears underlined with that color. When the
sheet is not active, the entire background of the sheet tab is displayed in that color.
Changing the Sheet Tab Text Size
If you find that the text displayed in your sheet tabs is too small (or too large), you can
change the size of the text — but you have to make a system-wide change.
The text size on the Excel sheets tabs is determined by a Windows systemwide setting. To
change it, open the Windows Display Properties dialog box. The easiest way to do this is to
right-click on your desktop and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. In the Display
Properties dialog box that appears, follow these steps (which assume that you’re using
Windows XP):
1. Click the Appearance tab in the Display Properties dialog box.
2. Click the Advanced button to display the Advanced Appearance dialog box (see
Figure 14-1).
3. Choose Scrollbar from the Item drop-down list.
4. Adjust the Size setting, and then click OK.
Be aware that this setting affects the size of the scroll bars in all your applications.
Tip 14: Changing the Sheet Tab Appearance
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