Transparency color in cells

Copper Contributor

I need the transparency color in a cell to match colors from a PowerPoint slide.  I have the colors chosen but can't find where I can change the percentage transparent. I found gradient but not plain transparency.   I have Excel 2016 - where would it be if it can do that?    

 

PowerPoint - color 243,188,169 with 66% transparency; color 151,185, 255 with 78% transparency

 

thanks!

 

 

 

6 Replies
I don't believe it's possible to set transparency in Excel. Furthermore, I don't think it would be much use as colours vary between monitors and computers. I would make yellow look like yellow and blue look like blue etc. Use Microsoft's themes or Web safe colours where possible.
I can understand that matching different monitor colors is a challenge, but the reply that indicates that changing the transparency of cell fill colors in Excel is not useful is just not helpful. When I want to highlight a cell in a spreadsheet, I like to use red as a strong flag that something needs to be done. When I fill the cell with red, the fill is so dark that it becomes hard to read. I would really like to have a red fill color that was more transparent so that the text could be read easily. The fact that there is such limited control over the transparency of fill colors in the current version of Excel is sad. More than 5000 people have looked at this question, so it is clearly something that would be useful. Microsoft - please consider an option that allows darker cell fill colors, not shape fill colors, to be modified so text can be easier to read.

@periodoc52 

Wouldn't a transparent dark red just be a lighter red?

Alternatively, you can use a contrasting font color. White text on a dark red background, for example.

@Always-Learning 

 

I copied the cells with values and text:

Yea_So_1-1631406568822.png

pasted it as a linked picture:

Yea_So_2-1631406662047.png

Then I setup a range of cells with the same row and height settings then put color on the cells that required some:

Yea_So_5-1631407389251.png

 

then i copied the cells with colore pasted them as linked image as well and overlaid the  image with the color on top of the image with values then adjusted the transparency

68%

Yea_So_0-1631408899778.png

 

78%

Yea_So_0-1631408453732.png

 

and while you're making a presentation, you can probably change the values in excel and it will probably propagate in power point since its a linked image to the excel worksheet!

here is the color converter site:

Color code converter | color conversion (rapidtables.com)

Yea_So_8-1631407540529.png

 

cheers

 

 

I wanted to overlay a line marking the current month in a Gantt Chart, the reply above gave me the idea. Create and fill in a column of any amount on a separate area and copy and paste special (as an image) on the worksheet you require and the image allows you to adjust its size and transparency. This may be useful in some circumstances.

@Always-Learning 

 

The easiest solution is to use a little utility like Color Cop to get the HEX/RGB value for the exact color you want to match: Color Cop - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download
Then it's Format Cells --> More Colors