How to stop/turn off auto fill color in Excel?

When you are working with Excel and frequently apply fill color to cells in a range, you may notice that after you apply the same color to two or more adjacent cells, Excel will automatically apply that fill color to the next cell you select, especially when you press the Enter key to move down. While this auto fill color feature is intended to save time by streamlining formatting, it can sometimes become bothersome or lead to unwanted color formatting in your worksheet. Understanding how to disable this function can help you regain control over cell formatting and prevent unintended changes to your Excel spreadsheets.

This behavior often surprises users who expect cell formatting to remain manual. For example, as shown below, after coloring two cells in sequence, pressing Enter to move to the following cell immediately applies the same fill color without further user input:

This can be particularly inconvenient if you are working with large data sets that require varied formatting, or when you want each cell's appearance handled individually. Knowing how to stop this auto fill color can make your formatting workflow more flexible and precise.

Stop auto fill color in Excel

Stop auto fill color in Excel

To prevent Excel from automatically applying fill color to adjacent cells when you move between them, you need to adjust a specific setting in the Excel Options. This setting is responsible for extending formatting (like fill color) and formulas as you add data to a range; disabling it will turn off the auto fill color feature.

In Excel 2007/2010/2013 and later versions

1. Open Excel, then click the Office button (in Excel 2007) or the File tab (in Excel 2010, 2013, and later) in the upper-left corner of the window. Choose Options at the bottom-left of the menu to open the Excel Options dialog box. Please see the following screenshot for reference:

2. In the Excel Options dialog, click Advanced from the list on the left. Then scroll down to the Edit options section. Here, you will see an option labeled Extend data range formats and formulas. By default, this is checked. To stop Excel from auto formatting the next cell, uncheck this option. You can refer to the screenshot below:

3. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog. After disabling this option, when you fill color in two consecutive cells and press the Enter key to move to the next cell, that cell will no longer auto inherit the previous fill color.

Advantages: This method is simple, can be quickly reverted if needed, and doesn’t affect other Excel settings. It is suitable for users who want global control over format propagation.
Disadvantages: Disabling this feature applies to all workbooks you open, affecting the way Excel extends both formulas and formatting in any worksheet. If you rely on auto extending certain formulas, you may need to re-enable the option later.

Troubleshooting: If you uncheck the option and still experience auto fill color, make sure you have applied the setting to the correct Excel profile. You may need to close and reopen affected files, or restart Excel for the change to take full effect. Also, ensure that you do not have conditional formatting rules or macros that apply automatic coloring.

Tips: These settings are user-specific, meaning if you switch user accounts or move to a different computer, the default behavior may return. Also, in shared workbooks or collaborative environments, changes to main settings can impact other users if they use the same device.