Monthly Archives: September 2015

Sometimes you want a cell in your worksheet to catch the eye of the reader and stand out from the rest. The good news is you can do this and rather easily. All you have to do is create the illusion of three dimensions.  I know it sounds scary, but trust me, it’s not at all.

Follow the steps below to learn how:

1. Select the cell you would like to format.
2. Right-click on that cell and select Format Cells to display the dialog box.
3. Be certain the Fill tab is selected.

4. From the available colors, select the lightest gray you see. This will form the background for your cell.
5. Display the Border tab.

6. Under Line, click on the second-widest solid line.
7. Be certain the Color drop-down is set to either Automatic or Black.  Usually these two settings will give you a black color, which is what you want for this.
8. In the Border area, click the buttons for both the right border and the bottom border. You could also click on the actual border locations in the border area, which is what I do.
9. Utilizing the Color drop-down, select White. It will look like all the line styles have disappeared, but they are still there.  The second thickest line style should still be selected.
10. Click the buttons for both the left and top borders. As above, you can also click on the actual border locations.
11. You should not see anything in the preview area, since white-on-white does not show up really well.
12. Click OK.

The cell you selected above should now look as it has been raised up off the worksheet around it. You can make the effect more outstanding by using a background color in the cells surrounding the want that you want to look raised.

See? That wasn’t scary at all was it?