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Knowledge base article 86

Black cells appears black after import from Excel

Excel allows two colors to be mixed together to form a pattern fill for a cell. Ability only supports a single flat color - so we chose to import the color from Excel that is set as background, which is usually fine.

However, if the Excel user mixes 75% white onto a black background (a sort of grey in Excel) Ability only imports the background, e.g. 100% black. Note that some versions of Excel allow a black background with a 100% white over the top - resulting in a white cell (crazy but true). If this apparantly normal cell is imported, you'll get a surprise.

The solution is either:

In Excel, choose a flat color, or better mix of colours (100% white over black makes no sense, 25% black on white background would import better than 75% black on white background).

In Ability, select Format/Cells/Color and set the affected cells to white (or whatever color suits).