I had a couple of questions today about Excel 2007 and was wondering the best
way to answer them.

A customer wanted to know how to change the default background color for a
selected cell (while it is selected). To understand what I mean by this,
open a blank workbook, hold down the control key and click on a number of
different cells on the page. You'll notice that each cell that is selected
has a light background color. if you let off of the control key and select
only one cell, the cells that were previously selected (and are now no longer
selected) lose the background color. The customer wants to be able to make
that color more intense (or make it contrast more) in workbooks they create,
send to others or receive from others.

If there is a user preference setting for this, please let me know. If it
will require code to do so, it seems that the code is the only way to do
accomplish this and make it happen every time regardless of whether the
workbook was created, sent by or received by the user is perhaps to put the
code in an add-in. Is that correct?

David
P.S. The reason the person wants to be able to make this effective in
workbooks they send, is so they can distribute this solution to non-technical
customers with the same concern about the background color. If there is a
user preference setting for this color, of course, the code will not be
needed. We could just pass on the instructions on how to make the preference
change.

The shading of the cells in a selection is a built in attribute of Excel
application. To change it would require changing the source code for the
application software. So while it may be possible to change it, it is not
practical to do it. As an alternative, maybe the cells could be colored
using the Interior.ColorIndex or Interior.PatternColorIndex.

"David Pedersen" wrote:

I had a couple of questions today about Excel 2007 and was wondering the best
way to answer them.

A customer wanted to know how to change the default background color for a
selected cell (while it is selected). To understand what I mean by this,
open a blank workbook, hold down the control key and click on a number of
different cells on the page. You'll notice that each cell that is selected
has a light background color. if you let off of the control key and select
only one cell, the cells that were previously selected (and are now no longer
selected) lose the background color. The customer wants to be able to make
that color more intense (or make it contrast more) in workbooks they create,
send to others or receive from others.

If there is a user preference setting for this, please let me know. If it
will require code to do so, it seems that the code is the only way to do
accomplish this and make it happen every time regardless of whether the
workbook was created, sent by or received by the user is perhaps to put the
code in an add-in. Is that correct?

David
P.S. The reason the person wants to be able to make this effective in
workbooks they send, is so they can distribute this solution to non-technical
customers with the same concern about the background color. If there is a
user preference setting for this color, of course, the code will not be
needed. We could just pass on the instructions on how to make the preference
change.

After digging around a little more, I found the solution, and it did involve
using the Interior.ColorIndex that you mentioned below.

Thanks,
David

"JLGWhiz" wrote:

The shading of the cells in a selection is a built in attribute of Excel
application. To change it would require changing the source code for the
application software. So while it may be possible to change it, it is not
practical to do it. As an alternative, maybe the cells could be colored
using the Interior.ColorIndex or Interior.PatternColorIndex.

"David Pedersen" wrote:

I had a couple of questions today about Excel 2007 and was wondering the best
way to answer them.

A customer wanted to know how to change the default background color for a
selected cell (while it is selected). To understand what I mean by this,
open a blank workbook, hold down the control key and click on a number of
different cells on the page. You'll notice that each cell that is selected
has a light background color. if you let off of the control key and select
only one cell, the cells that were previously selected (and are now no longer
selected) lose the background color. The customer wants to be able to make
that color more intense (or make it contrast more) in workbooks they create,
send to others or receive from others.

If there is a user preference setting for this, please let me know. If it
will require code to do so, it seems that the code is the only way to do
accomplish this and make it happen every time regardless of whether the
workbook was created, sent by or received by the user is perhaps to put the
code in an add-in. Is that correct?

David
P.S. The reason the person wants to be able to make this effective in
workbooks they send, is so they can distribute this solution to non-technical
customers with the same concern about the background color. If there is a
user preference setting for this color, of course, the code will not be
needed. We could just pass on the instructions on how to make the preference
change.