Remove A Specific Fill Color From Your Spreadsheet
What This VBA Code Does
This VBA macro code will allow you to remove a specific fill color from your entire worksheet without affecting any other fill color on the tab. In order to properly do this, you will need to determine the RGB color code for your desired color that will be removed.
You can determine the RGB color code of a cell by:
- Right-clicking on the cell with the fill color you want
- Selecting Format Cells
- In the Format Cells dialog box, go to the Fill tab and click the More Colors… button
- Then go to the Custom tab within the Colors dialog box and you will see the “Red”, “Green”, and “Blue” values for the cell’s current fill color
Sub RemoveSpecificColorFill()
'PURPOSE: Remove a specific fill color from the spreadsheet
'SOURCE: www.TheSpreadsheetGuru.com/the-code-vault
Dim cell As Range
'Turn off ScreenUpdating (speeds up code)
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'Loop through each cell in the ActiveSheet
For Each cell In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
'Check for a specific fill color
If cell.Interior.Color = RGB(219, 229, 241) Then
'Remove Fill Color
cell.Interior.Color = xlNone
End If
Next cell
End SubA More Dynamic Option
For a more dynamic solution where you don’t have to mess around with RGB color codes, you can use the below macro code. It requires you to first select a cell with the fill color you wish to target. Then after you run the code, it will select all cells on the sheet containing that cell’s fill color. Afterward, you can manually change the selected cell’s fill color to whatever you want!
Sub SelectSpecificColorFill()
'PURPOSE: Select all cells with a specific fill color from the spreadsheet
'SOURCE: www.TheSpreadsheetGuru.com/the-code-vault
Dim cell As Range
Dim CellColor As Long
Dim rng As Range
'Turn off ScreenUpdating (speeds up code)
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'Store the cell the user selected
Set rng = ActiveCell
'Get color of selected cell
CellColor = rng.Interior.Color
'Loop through each cell in the ActiveSheet
For Each cell In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
'Check for a specific fill color
If cell.Interior.Color = CellColor Then
'Add to selection range
Set rng = Union(rng, cell)
End If
Next cell
'Select all cells with the specified color
rng.Select
End SubUsing VBA Code Found On The Internet
Now that you’ve found some VBA code that could potentially solve your Excel automation problem, what do you do with it? If you don’t necessarily want to learn how to code VBA and are just looking for the fastest way to implement this code into your spreadsheet, I wrote an article (with video) that explains how to get the VBA code you’ve found running on your spreadsheet.
Getting Started Automating Excel
Are you new to VBA and not sure where to begin? Check out my quickstart guide to learning VBA. This article won’t overwhelm you with fancy coding jargon, as it provides you with a simplistic and straightforward approach to the basic things I wish I knew when trying to teach myself how to automate tasks in Excel with VBA Macros.
Also, if you haven’t checked out Excel’s latest automation feature called Power Query, I have put together a beginner’s guide for automating with Excel’s Power Query feature as well! This little-known built-in Excel feature allows you to merge and clean data automatically with little to no coding!
How Do I Modify This To Fit My Specific Needs?
Chances are this post did not give you the exact answer you were looking for. We all have different situations and it’s impossible to account for every particular need one might have. That’s why I want to share with you: My Guide to Getting the Solution to your Problems FAST! In this article, I explain the best strategies I have come up with over the years to get quick answers to complex problems in Excel, PowerPoint, VBA, you name it!
I highly recommend that you check this guide out before asking me or anyone else in the comments section to solve your specific problem. I can guarantee that 9 times out of 10, one of my strategies will get you the answer(s) you are needing faster than it will take me to get back to you with a possible solution. I try my best to help everyone out, but sometimes I don’t have time to fit everyone’s questions in (there never seem to be quite enough hours in the day!).
I wish you the best of luck and I hope this tutorial gets you heading in the right direction!
After 10+ years of creating macros and developing add-ins, I've compiled all the hacks I wish I had known years ago!
Keep Learning
Chris Newman
Chris is a finance professional and Excel MVP recognized by Microsoft since 2016. With his expertise, he founded TheSpreadsheetGuru blog to help fellow Excel users, where he shares his vast creative solutions & expertise. In addition, he has developed over 7 widely-used Excel Add-ins that have been embraced by individuals and companies worldwide.