How to highlight two columns in Excel

You can watch a video tutorial here.

Excel provides many ways to format text in Excel. You may want to draw the reader’s attention to two columns of data by highlighting the text. To do this, you can change the color of the cell so that it stands out.

Option 1 – Use the fill option on the ribbon

Step 1 – Select the columns

• Select the columns to be highlighted

Step 2 – Use the button on the menu

• Go to Home > Font
• Expand the Fill Color menu 

Step 3 – Choose a color

• Select one of the colors displayed 

Note: You can use the More Colors option to explore other choices

Step 4 – Check the result

• The background color of the selected columns is changed
• The columns are highlighted

Option 2 – Use the format option

Step 1 – Select the columns

• Select one column
• Hold down the Ctrl key and select the second column

Step 2 – Open the Format Cells window

• Right-click and select Format Cells  from the context menu

OR

Go to Home > Number  and click on the arrow to expand the menu

OR

Go to Home > Cells > Format > Format Cells

OR

Press Ctrl+1

Step 3 – Select the color

• In the Format Cells window, go to the Fill tab
• Select one of the colors displayed 

Note: Use the More Colors option to explore other color choices

• Click OK

Step 4 – Check the result

• The background color of the selected columns is changed
• The columns are highlighted