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How to filter or select cells by cell color in Excel?

Author Kelly Last modified

Normally you can fill cells with different colors for any purposes in Excel. If you have a worksheet with using different colors to indicate different type of contents and you want to filter or select those cells by the cell color, you may get it done as follows:

Filter rows by cell color with Filter command

Filter rows by cell color with Kutools for Excel

Select cells by cell color with Find command


Filter rows by cell color with Filter command

You can filter rows by cell color with following steps:

1. Select the column that you want to filter by cell color, and click Data > Filter, see screenshot:

A screenshot showing how to apply the Filter command in Excel to filter rows by cell color

2. Then the filter arrow button A screenshot of the filter arrow button will be appeared besides the title of selected column.

3. Click the A screenshot of the filter arrow button button, and move mouse over the Filter by Color item, and select one color to filter.

A screenshot showing the filter options in Excel, highlighting the 'Filter by Color' feature

4. Then it shows the rows whose cells are filled by selected color, and hide other rows quickly. See screenshot:

A screenshot showing filtered rows based on selected cell color in Excel


Filter rows by cell color with Kutools for Excel

If you have Kutools for Excel, with its Special Filter feature, you can quickly filter all cells which filled with same background color.

Note:To apply this Special Filter, firstly, you should download the Kutools for Excel, and then apply the feature quickly and easily.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as this:

1. Seelct the column that you want to filter by background color, and then click Kutools Plus > Special Filter > Special Filter, see screenshot:

A screenshot showing how to filter rows by cell color using Kutools

2. In the Special Filter dialog box, select Format option, then choose Background Color from the drop down list, and then click Eyedropper icon button to select a color that you want to filter out, see screesnhot:

A screenshot of Kutools for Excel's Special Filter dialog

3. Then click Ok button, and a promot box will pop out to remind you how many matched cells have been found, see screenshot:

A screenshot showing the result prompt after applying the filter by color

4. And then click OK button, all cells with the same color you specfied have been filtered at once, see screenshot:

A screenshot showing the filtered cells by color

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Select cells by cell color with Find command

You may want to select cells by cell color, the Find command can help you quickly select the same color of the cells. And you can do it with following steps:

1. Select the range that you want to select the cells by specific color.

2. Press the Ctrl + F shortcuts to open the Find and Replace dialog box. And click Find tab.

3. Then click the Format button, and click Choose Format From Cell… item to select a cell with the specific color you want to select by.

A screenshot showing the 'Find' command in Excel used to select cells by color

Note: If there is no Format button in the dialog box, please click the Options button to get it.

4. Click the Find All button in the Find and Replace dialog box. And it will filter all cells which have the same color as the selected cell. And then press Ctrl + A to select all cells.

A screenshot of filtered cells by color using the Find command

5. Then close the dialog box, and all cells meet the criteria are selected, then you can copy and paste them to a blank range as you want.

A screenshot showing the copied cells after applying the Find command


Related articles:

How to select cells based on color or formatting of another cell in Excel?

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