How to Quickly Change Table Design in Microsoft Excel

This guide provides simple instructions so you can quickly change the design of a table in Microsoft Excel. You’ll be able to add or remove header rows, Total/Sum rows, shading, Filters, and more. We’ve also got the steps for inserting a table.

Excel can be an intimidating program and you might not be familiar with some of the quick Table design options that are readily available with just a few clicks. You won’t need to go hunting deep through menus to find what you need.

There’s a lot of built-in table options that ONLY appear if you click within a cell of the table. It’s this simple action that activates a whole lot of Excel options.

For example, you might have a table on your Excel worksheet and don’t know how to remove the shading or the headers. Continue with the guide below to quickly adjust the Table Design in Microsoft Excel.

Insert a table and change the design – Simple steps

1. Open Excel on your computer.
2. Highlight the area / set of cells where you want to insert the table.
3. Click Insert (at the top) then Table.
4. Click OK when the Create Table popup appears.
5. Darn – those pesky headers appear – however, you can make them disappear quick! Continue below.
6. Click anywhere within the table.
7. Click the Table Design option that now appears in the top menu.
8. Adjust the settings that appear, such as removing a header row or removing duplicates.
9. Look at your table after clicking an option to see the changes take effect.

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Insert a table and change the design – Guide with images

1) Open Excel on your computer.

2) Highlight the area / set of cells where you want to insert the table.

3) Click Insert (at the top) then Table.

4) Click OK when the Create Table popup appears.

5) Click anywhere within the table.

6) Click the Table Design option that now appears in the top menu.

7) Clear the checkboxes to adjust the settings, such as the Header Row.

8) Look at your table – the header row is now gone! You can see the other changes when you mark or clear other checkboxes.

9) There’s many other options that appear when you click in the cell, such as removing duplicates. Explore all the options available.