To set the background color of a cell
Step 1
Select (click) the cell whose background color you want to set.
Suppose you select the cell shown below and the "Color" submenu opens.
Step 2
Click on the color of your choice. In this example, Pale Turquoise was selected.
Now, the cell and the "Cell" button are highlighted in Pale Turquoise. This means that the cell now has a background color set, and the highlight color of the button indicates what that color is. If you move to another cell, you will see that the background color of the button changes to a color that matches the background color of the cell if any. This is a quick way to show you whether a cell has a background color.
Tip: Toggle the "Cell" button or click the color to apply or delete the background color of the cell.
To set the background color to a column or row
Step 0
Place the cursor in the cell of the column where you want to set a background color for, as shown in the screenshot above. Now, click the "Column" button, and then the remaining cells of the column are highlighted in Pale Turquoise. This is the color you clicked most recently, as shown below.
Tips:
1) After clicking the "Column" button, you are in "Column" mode. When you click a color, it will be applied to the whole column. Now, if you change to a different column and click a color, that color will be applied to the new column. This is a quick way to apply different colors to different columns.
2) Toggle the "Column" button or click the color to apply or delete the background color of the column.
The instructions for setting the background color to a row are the same.
Note: This function is only available to users with designer access rights.