Excel Shortcut for Color Fill: How to Use the Paint Bucket Tool

Mar 01, 2024

Microsoft Excel‘s Paint Bucket Tool is an essential feature for enhancing your spreadsheets, providing a quick and effective way to apply color fill to cells. This guide will show you how to use this tool to organize and highlight key data, making your documents more visually appealing and easier to interpret, essential for professional and clear data presentation.

Step 1. Select the Cells for Color Fill

Initiate the color fill process in Microsoft Excel by selecting the cells you wish to modify. This can be achieved either by clicking and dragging your mouse across the desired cells or by clicking the first cell and then, while holding the “Shift” key, clicking the last cell in your intended range. Accurate selection is crucial for effective color application.

Step 2. Opt for a Suitable Color

Having highlighted the cells, proceed to the Paint Bucket Tool, located in the “Font” section under the “Home” tab. Clicking this icon unveils a drop-down menu brimming with color choices. Here, simply click your preferred color to proceed.

You can also refer to these helpful articles on how to use Excel shortcuts:

The Best Shortcut for Hiding Columns in Excel
Top 5 Excel Shortcuts for Creating Tables

Step 3. Apply the Selected Color

With your color chosen, click on the previously selected cells. The Paint Bucket Tool will promptly fill these cells with your chosen color. This step can be repeated to apply the same color to additional cells, ensuring a uniform and professional appearance. Also, check out the Top 5 ways to quickly color a cell in Excel to improve your knowledge in this aspect.

Step 4. Use Keyboard Shortcuts for Efficiency

For those seeking to expedite the use of the Paint Bucket Tool, several keyboard shortcuts are available:

Alt + H + H + F: This sequence opens the “Fill Color” drop-down menu directly, facilitating swift color selection.
Alt + H + H + H: Use this to quickly apply the most recently used color to selected cells.
Ctrl + Shift + L: This toggles the “Filter” feature, allowing for rapid data filtering and management.

Note

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