There are two ways to apply shading to alternate rows or columns —you can apply the shading by using a simple conditional formatting formula, or you can apply a predefined Excel table style to your data.

Here's how: Select the range of cells that you want to format. Go to Home > Format as Table. Pick a table style that has alternate row shading. To change the shading from rows to columns, select the …

If print options are set to Black and white or Draft quality — either on purpose, or because the workbook contains large or complex worksheets and charts that caused draft mode to be turned on …

Make a table to shade or highlight alternate rows. The easiest way to apply shading or highlighting to alternate rows is to make them a table. Tables also include tools to help you analyze your data.

To alternate row or column colors and make tables easier to read, on the Table tab, select Table Options and choose Banded Rows or Banded Columns.

Adding shading to a table can help make certain rows, columns, or cells—or the entire table—stand out in your document. The easiest way to add colored shading to a table is to use the Shading menu.

• To alternate blue and white rows in your list for easy reading, select Alternating row styles. • To make other changes to alternate rows, such as different colors, fonts, and borders, select Edit row styles.

Excel provides numerous predefined table styles that you can use to quickly format a table. If the predefined table styles don't meet your needs, you can create and apply a custom table style.

When you choose one of the predefined alternate-row styles, Excel maintains the alternating row pattern when you filter, hide, or rearrange rows. For information on how to work with table styles, see Format …

You can quickly format your worksheet data by applying a predefined table style. However, when you apply a predefined table style, an Excel table is automatically created for the selected data.