Microsoft KB Archive/291293

= XL2002: Color Palette Looks Different in Microsoft Excel 2002 =

Article ID: 291293

Article Last Modified on 1/31/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q291293



For a Microsoft Excel 2000 version of this article, see 211533.

For a Microsoft Excel 98 version of this article, see 179003.

For a Microsoft Excel 97 version of this article, see 157202.



SYMPTOMS
When you select a color from the color palette, the value of the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications ColorIndex property of the color you select may not be what you expect.



CAUSE
This occurs because colors within the color palette are sorted chromatically, not by color index. This behavior is different than in Microsoft Excel version 5.0 or 7.0.



MORE INFORMATION
In Excel, you can view the color palette by clicking the arrow just to the right of the Font Color button on the Formatting toolbar.

In Microsoft Excel version 5.0 or 7.0, colors are arranged on the color palette by color index. The first row of colors contains colors 1 through 8, the second row contains colors 9 through 16, and so on.

In Excel 2002, colors are arranged on the color palette in chromatic order. The first row contains the eight darkest colors, the second row is lighter than the first and so on to the last row, which contains the eight lightest colors.

The ColorIndex property values have not changed, however, so macro code that changes the color of fonts or cell backgrounds should work exactly the same in Excel 2002 as it does in earlier versions of Excel.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

213801 XL: Sample Visual Basic Code to Create Color Index Table

