Google Sheets Color Every Other Row: The Step-By-Step Guide

Select the data range either by click-dragging through it or by identifying the top-leftmost cell and bottom-rightmost cell.

2. Click Format

Format is located along the top row of Google Sheets controls.

3. Select Alternating colors

The table becomes:

How to Change Color of Alternating Colors

After selecting Alternating colors in the Format option of the main menu, a sidebar labeled Alternating colors will appear on the right side of Google Sheets. It contains options for changing the colors of every other row.

Default styles

You can select one of the default styles by clicking on one of the options inside the highlighted section:

How to Create Custom Color Style for Alternating Colors

You can also set your own custom color styles by clicking on the pallet for each element of the style:

1. Select the range of the table you want to format

2. Click the palette for each element and set the color

3. Click the small box with plus sign above the elements to save the style

4. Click Done

The table now looks as follows:

Google Sheets Alternate Row Color (Dynamic Range)

If you want to apply an alternate row color style to a dynamic data range that is constantly being updated, you can use conditional formatting. This means that blank rows don’t get alternate row colors, keeping the sheet neat. Here are the steps:

1. Select the data range

Select the data range either by click-dragging through it or by identifying the top-leftmost cell and bottom-rightmost cell.

For bigger ranges, you can just select the entire columns that contain the data.

If you have a header row and want to color it separately, do not include it in the range. For our example, we want to set a different color to the header.

2. Click Format then select Conditional formatting

Make sure the range is highlighted when you do this step.

3. Add the formula in Conditional Formatting

The Conditional Formatting sidebar will appear. Select Custom formula is under Format rules:

On the textbox that will appear, add the following formula:

=AND(NOT(ISBLANK($A2)),ISODD(ROW()))

The $A2 marks the top-leftmost cell in the range. Change it depending on the actual range of your data.

4. Change fill color

Click Fill color icon under Formatting style label in the sidebar, then select the color from the palette.

5. Click Done

If you include the header row in Step 1, you will get the following result:

If you did not include the header row, you will get the following:

To shade the header row, do the next step.

6. Optional: Set header row color through Fill color

Select the header row, then click Fill color icon in the main toolbar, then select the color from the palette.

You can see how the conditional formatting changes when the number of rows with value changes.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like our article on how to use Google Sheets custom formula conditional formatting or our article on how to use Google Sheets conditional formatting if another cell contains text.

If you want to learn how to use Google Sheets data validation email, we also suggest checking out our detailed guide.