SubscribeHow to get more colors in excel chart – simple trick
Posted on April 9th, 2008 in Charts and Graphs , Learn Excel , hacks , ideas , technology - 5 comments
Here is a simple to trick to beat the 56 color limitation in excel when you are designing a chart: use picture files (jpg, gif, png etc.) to fill the chart area.
You will no longer have to worry about limiting your project report / website / annual report etc. colors to the 56 that excel has.
1 + 3 steps to get more colors in excel charts:
- First create a 1*1 pixel sized image of the color you want to use in excel. You can use any software like MS Paintbrush to do this, all you need is the hex code or rgb of the color you want. Visit colour lovers if you are looking for cool color ideas.
- Right click on any of your chart data points and select format data point
- In the dialog select “fill effects”
- Finally, go to “Picture” tab in fill effects and specify your picture file path.
OK your changes. Thats all, now your charts have any color your want.
Also: Download 73 beautiful excel chart templates | Art of excel charting | Become a conditional formatting pro
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At Pointy Haired Dilbert, I have one goal, "to make you awesome in excel and charting". PHD is started in 2007 and today has 300+ articles and tutorials on using excel, making better charts. 
Another way to color the bars or columns in a chart is to draw a rectangle in the sheet (make it larger than the bar it will be used to format). Double click the rectangle to open the Format Autoshape dialog. Format the shape to have no line, and under fill color, choose More Colors, and define the color you want. When done, copy the rectangle, select the series of columns (bars) or the specific column (bar), and use Ctrl+V to paste the shape.
Er… Isn’t it much easier than this? Why don’t you just change the default colour options in Excel? Tools > Options > Color > Modify… And just change the RGB values of the default colours! Isn’t that much better?