Removing cell background color to show grid in Numbers

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Level 1

4 points

Removing cell background color to show grid in Numbers

NUMBERS HELP PLEASE WITH CHANGING THE CELL COLORS FROM WHAT THERE WERE WITH EXCEL!!!

I got rid of Excel and have converted over to Pages and Numbers, a BIG learning curve to say the least. My Excel sheet was sectioned by colors, super useful for me. But now that I am using Numbers I have found it impossible to change the color back to just a normal page. I can, of course change the color to white, but that is not what I want to do. I want to change it to NO BACKGROUND, or transparent, or whatever they call it here and have it just return to a white grid. (If I change the background from a color to white the grid is still covered.). With Excel it was a snap, just highlight the area and change it back to "normal". I am pulling my hair out and no matter how many times I seach for an answer it still is not what I want to do.

Posted on Apr 30, 2026 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

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Camelot

Level 9

60,873 points

Apr 30, 2026 3:07 PM in response to huskers101

it isn't quite clear to me what the issue is... it sounds like you originally (in Excel?) changed the color of the cells to various colors... that's fair enough... and that you now want to remove those colors...

Just select the cells (or Edit -> Select All to select all the cells in a table), then use Inspector -> Format -> Cell to change the cell fill to 'No Fill':

Am I missing something?

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Answer 2

huskers101 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 30, 2026 4:50 PM in response to huskers101

That was Google's response. That will not work. If you highlight the cells and hit (no fill) nothing happens. However, if I choose a cell and then add color to in it will change the color. But if you then click "No Fill" it will only change it back to the original color I started with which is the color I made it when I used Excel. For example, the cell (from Excel) is already purple. When I select the cell and hit the NO FILL button nothing happens. I can however click that same cell and change the color, but if I then click NO FILL it simply changes it back to purple. I have been at this off and on for days, what a waste of time.

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Answer 3

Camelot

Level 9

60,873 points

May 4, 2026 11:11 AM in response to huskers101

What cell format is shown when you initially open the document?

From the description, it sounds like there's a second-level of color added - maybe at the table or sheet level? If there's a table-level color assigned in Excel, that could be what you're seeing.

Unfortunately I don't have any Excel sheets that have this problem importing into Numbers, so I can't tell directly.

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