How to Color a Table in Google Docs

When you add a table to a document in Google Docs you can do so by going to the Insert tab, selecting the Table option, then choosing the size of the table.

Once you are finished with that you will see a series of cells in your document that are sorted into columns and rows.

But that table is going to have a white background and black border by default, which you may not like.

Our tutorial below will show you how to color a table in Google Docs and use whatever color you want for those two table characteristics.

How to Change Table Color in Google Docs

1. Open your document.
2. Select the entire table.
3. Click the Background color button and select a color.
4. Click the Border color button and choose a color.

Our guide continues below with additional information on how to change the color of a table in Google Docs, including pictures of these steps.

Word processing applications like Microsoft Word and Google docs have a large number of tools that you can use to customize your document.

You’ve probably already tried things like adding links to your content or maybe even changing the paper size, but there is a lot more than you can do.

One of the types of changes you can make involves customizing your tables.

The default table style in Google Docs is effective at displaying data, but it can be modified to be very colorful and really stand out from the rest of the content in your document.

Our guide is going to show you a couple of different ways that you can change a Google Docs table color so that you can determine which option is best for you.

How to Change the Background and Border Colors of a Google Docs Table (Guide with Pictures)

The steps in this article were performed in the desktop version of the Google Chrome Web browser but will work in other Web browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge as well.

Step 1: Go to Google Drive and open the document with the table that you want to change.

Step 2: Use your mouse to select all of the cells in the table.

If you only want to change the colors of some of the cells, then only select those cells.

Step 3: Click the Background color button in the toolbar above your document, then select the color for the background of your cells.

Step 4: Click the Border color button in the toolbar, then choose the color for the cell borders of the table.

Now that you know how to change the colors in a Google Docs table you will be able to change these colors away from the defaults, or you will be able to modify the table colors in a document that someone else has sent to you.

The next section of this guide discusses another way to change these table values by opening a Table properties menu.

Alternate Method for Changing Google Docs Table Colors

Aside from changing the colors of a table, there are many other table elements that you can adjust.

Some of these options can be found by right-clicking on the table and choosing an appropriate option from the menu.

Step 1: Open your Google document.

Step 2: Select all of the cells in the table.

Step 3: Right-click on any of the selected cells, then choose the Table properties option.

Step 4: Expand the Color section on the right side of the window.

Step 5: Select the Cell background color button and choose a color.

Step 6: Click the Border color button and select a color.

Note that you can also change the width of the border here as well.

Once you are done, simply click the X at the top-right of the Table properties column to close it, or keep it open if you want to explore the menu and change some of your other table settings.