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Google Sheets dark mode on a computer: your real options

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A computer screen showing a spreadsheet with dark gray cells and light gridlines, a mug of tea beside the keyboard

In short: Google Sheets has a built-in dark theme only in its Android and iPhone apps.[1] On a computer, Chrome's dark mode darkens Chrome, not the grid.[2] You can fill cells with a dark color and make the text light,[3] but that changes the sheet for everyone. Keeptab Dark darkens the grid on your screen only.[4]

You have a budget to finish, it's late, and the spreadsheet is a wall of white cells. After ten minutes your eyes hurt more from the background than from the numbers. You look for a dark mode in Sheets. On a computer, there isn't one.

Where Google's dark theme for Sheets actually exists

Google does offer a dark theme for Sheets, but its help page covers the Android and iPhone apps. In the app, you open Menu › Settings › Choose theme (Theme on iPhone) and pick Dark, Light or System default.[1]

Two details from that page are useful. Collaborators can't see the theme you choose. And because the dark theme adjusts your sheets to fit, you can check how a sheet looks for others with More › View in light theme.[1]

Sheets in a browser has no such setting. So on a laptop you have three ways to get a darker spreadsheet, and they behave very differently.

Option 1: Chrome's dark mode

  1. Open a New Tab page in Chrome.
  2. At the bottom right, select Customize Chrome.
  3. Under “Appearance”, choose Dark, or Device to follow your computer.[2]

Google says this darkens your homepage, toolbar, settings and some other pages.[2] Sheets draws its own white grid, so you end up with a dark browser frame around a bright spreadsheet.

Option 2: paint the cells dark

Sheets lets you color cells and text, so you can build a dark sheet by hand.

  1. Select the cells you want to darken, or the whole sheet.
  2. In the toolbar, click Fill color and pick a dark gray.[3]
  3. Click Text color and pick a light gray or white.[3]

For a softer shade than the presets, Google lets you add a custom color with a Hex or RGB value.[3]

Before you do this on a real file, know the catch. Fill color is part of the spreadsheet. Everyone who opens it sees your dark cells, and so does anyone who prints it. It also wipes out the colors that mean something: if your team marks late payments in yellow and paid ones in green, a dark fill over the whole sheet erases that. You would have to recolor it by hand, sheet after sheet, file after file.

The problem with all three

What you really want is a dark grid on your screen, with the same colors your team sees, and nothing changed in the file.

Docs, Sheets and Slides in real dark mode. Keeptab Dark turns the whole Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Excel page dark. Images keep their colors, and there is no white flash. Alt+Shift+D turns it on or off.

Add to Chrome — it's free

Option 3: Keeptab Dark, made for spreadsheets too

Keeptab Dark is a Chrome extension we make. It turns Google Sheets dark on your screen, along with Docs, Slides and Excel for the web.[4]

The soft gray theme is free. Pro adds 11 more themes and an automatic switch at night.[4] Keeptab Dark doesn't read, copy or send your data, and has no analytics or ads.[4]

It works in Chrome on a computer. On your phone, stick with Google's own dark theme.

FAQ

Does Google Sheets have a dark mode?

Only in the Android and iPhone apps: Menu › Settings › Choose theme (Theme on iPhone) › Dark, according to Google Docs Editors Help. Sheets has no dark mode setting on a computer.

How do I make Google Sheets dark on my laptop?

Either select all cells and use Fill color with a dark shade plus a light Text color, which changes the file for everyone, or use an extension such as Keeptab Dark, which only changes your screen.

Will dark mode hide my colored cells in Google Sheets?

A dark fill applied to every cell covers your existing cell colors. Keeptab Dark keeps highlighted cells in their color and keeps gridlines visible.

Do my collaborators see my dark Google Sheet?

Not with the phone app's dark theme: Google says collaborators can't see your theme. Not with Keeptab Dark either. A fill color, however, is saved in the spreadsheet and everyone sees it.

Sources

  1. Google Docs Editors Help. Use Dark theme in Google Docs, Sheets & Slides (Android, iPhone & iPad). https://support.google.com/docs/answer/9955476?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
  2. Google Chrome Help. Browse in Dark mode or Dark theme (computer). https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9275525?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
  3. Google Docs Editors Help. Change the color of text, objects, and backgrounds. https://support.google.com/docs/answer/13267978?hl=en
  4. Keeptab Dark. Dark mode for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Excel. https://keep-tab.com/dark/

Docs, Sheets and Slides in real dark mode

Keeptab Dark turns the whole Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Excel page dark. Images keep their colors, and there is no white flash. Alt+Shift+D turns it on or off.

Add to Chrome — it's free

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