How to Highlight Every Other ID in Excel

Create a sub procedure using VBA in Excel.

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the perfect tool to use if you need to highlight every other ID in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. VBA is a programming language that gives you the ability to extend Excel. VBA works by running macros, step-by-step procedures written in Visual Basic. VBA is used when you might want to find an easier way to perform a mundane, repetitive task, or to perform some task that the UI does not seem to address such as highlighting every other row.

Instructions

1. Launch Microsoft Excel, click the "Developer" tab and click Visual Basic to start the VBA editor window. Click the "Insert" menu, and click "Module" to add a new code module. Add the following code to create a new sub procedure and two "Integer" variables:

   Private Sub highlightRows()

   Dim X As Integer

   Dim Y As Integer

2. Populate the first ten rows of column A1 with "Integer" IDs using a "For...Loop:"

   For X = 1 To 10

   Range("A" & X).Select

   Range("A" & X).Value = X

   Next X

3. Highlight every other ID by using the following "For...Loop:"

   For y = 1 To 10

   Rows(y & ":" & y).Select

   With Selection.Interior

   .Pattern = xlSolid

   .PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic

   .Color = 65535

   .TintAndShade = 0

   .PatternTintAndShade = 0

   End With

   y = y + 1

   Next y

4. Type "End Sub" to end your procedure, and click "F5" to run it. Switch to the Microsoft Excel to view the results.

References

• MSDN: Getting Started with VBA in Excel 2010