Excel table not formatting new rows appropriately - where does formatting come from?

Question

I have an excel table and all rows are formatted the same. When I add a new row, the formatting does not match the rows above - so every time I add a row I have to select the above row and copy/paste special>format to get it to look right.

My question is twofold.
1) How can I get it to format correctly when adding a new row?
2) Where do tables pull their formatting from, as I'm not understanding why it formats so odd.

*I can take a video and upload it to youtube if you need to see the behavior I am talking about.
**This is happening in multiple workbooks, so not isolated to a single workbook or single table.

Answer 1

I had the same problem for one column, it used to set forecolor of one column to red for each new row I added to the table.

To resolve this click on the header of a column then right click and choose "Format Cells" option and set the desired format. After this new row will use this format for selected column. You can specify the format for other / all columns like this.

Answer 2

This happened to me as well using the TAB key to insert a new table row. What I found is that Excel is using the format of the row when the table was created not it's current state. So to address this, I converted the table to a range, ensured the formatting was how I wanted it, then converted it back to a table.

Answer 3

To solve this problem, follow the steps:

1. Click the table which you want to be main format table.
2. click design.
3. Go to "Properties"
4. Click "Resize table"
5. In the range, enter the entire range from start of the table to the cell you want to be included in the format of the table.
6. Click OK
7. VOILA....its magically done.

Answer 4

It sounds like the range to which you are adding rows to is not actually formatted as a table.

Option 1: Highlight the cells that you want to format and select "Format as Table" on the Home tab. Once you do that, any new rows and columns will be formatted consistently.

Option 2: After you insert a new row, you should see a little formatting icon pop up next to the new row. Click that drop-down menu to see options for "Format Same as Above/Below" as shown in the screenshot.

Answer 5

I was just having trouble with this as well, and the above answers really did not work for me. But I believe I found out what to do. It is close to the current best answer but a little more nuanced.

Hover your cursor over the table header in the column where the format refuses to auto-fill. Once it turns into a down arrow left click, and the entire column will be selected. Then right click, select format cells and change the formats. Now try adding a new row to the table and the formats should Auto-fill.

Answer 6

I had this same problem, but for mine- it's because I had created a table on top of existing formatted cells. (I like a dark BG, not a white BG). The solution I found was:

1. highlight my table (the whole thing)
2. right click
3. format cells
4. set the desired format (in my case, "No Fill" BG)

and then new rows take on the new format thereafter. :)

Answer 7

A special case occurs if you're inserting before the first row. Once inserted, you have the option to pick "Same as Above", "Same as Below" or "Same as Column" (which is typically selected by default). To make sure the "Same as Column" acts as expected, you need to make sure to apply the formatting to the column header also, so that it is applicable.

Answer 8

it worked for me thanks to Aarons answer.

I had a table with date columns, time columns, number columns and text columns. To keep the correct format on each column when adding a new row, I did the following:

1. Copy the entire table
2. Paste only the formulas a few rows below the existing table
3. Delete the rows of the initial table, so you are left with only the dataset not as a table.
4. Make sure to format every column like you want it.
5. Create table

The new table remembers the formatting it had when created.

Answer 9

I have had this issue before. This seems to be an issue caused by having a Totals row, but that's only a guess. This will still clear the problem of formatting.

1. Select the entire table, except the headers, but including the Totals row.
2. On the Home tab, click the small dropdown arrow next to the Clear button on the Editing submenu, then choose Clear Formats from the list.
3. With the formats cleared, select the last cell not in the Totals row and press Tab to create a new row. It should be in the General format.
4. Select the column to be formatting, excluding header, but including cell from Totals row.
5. Format as desired by pressing Ctrl + 1 or using Format Cells from context menu.
6. Add new row again. It should be in your desired format.
7. Change the Total cell in that row to its desired format.
8. Final test, add another new row. It should still be in the correct format from step #6, while the Total cell is in its correct format as well.

Answer 10

I had the same issue and this is what I found.

The issue happens only when inserting new rows moving to the end of the last row and pressing TAB.

If I add the new row using the menu option "Insert -> Table Row Below" the format is inherited properly to the new row.

Looks like a bug in Excel when adding rows using TAB.

Hope it helps.