Change the look of an object

You can change an object’s appearance by modifying its borders, fill color, shadow, and more. Numbers provides many predesigned object styles—coordinated sets of colors, borders, and shadows—that match a spreadsheet’s template. You can quickly change how an object looks by applying one of these styles, and you also can select from a range of additional options to customize the object’s appearance.

Apply a style to an object

Select an object, then click a style at the top of the Style pane in the Format inspector.
Click the left or right arrow to see more styles.

Change the transparency of an object

Select an object.
In the Style pane of the Format inspector, drag the Opacity slider.

Add or change an object’s border

Select an object.
In the Style pane of the Format inspector, click the disclosure triangle next to Border, then choose a type of border from the pop-up menu.
Use the controls to adjust the border’s appearance (options vary depending on the type of border you choose).

Fill a shape with color or a gradient

You can fill shapes, text boxes, and other objects with a solid color or a gradient (two or more colors that blend into one another). You can choose colors and gradients designed to go with the template, or choose from the full range of colors to create your own fill.

Select a shape.
In the Style pane of the Format inspector, do any of the following:
- Use a color or gradient that goes with the template: Click the color well next to Fill, then choose a color or gradient.
- Use a two-color gradient fill: Click the Fill disclosure triangle, choose Gradient Fill from the pop-up menu, then choose colors. The left side of the color well shows colors that match the template; the color wheel opens the Colors window, where you can choose any color.
- Use a custom gradient: Click the Fill disclosure triangle, choose Advanced Gradient Fill from the pop-up menu, then click the square color stops below the slider to choose colors. You can slide the color stops and use the other controls to change the blend, angle, and direction of the gradient.

Save a custom fill

You can save a custom fill, to use it again.

Select a shape with the fill you want to save.
In the Style pane of the Format inspector, click the color well next to Fill.
A window showing fill choices appears.
Drag the fill in the Current Fill well to any other well in the window to replace it.
Some fills can’t be replaced. To change which fills you can replace, click the fill type pop-up menu and select a different option (for example, Advanced Gradient Fill).

Add an image fill to a shape

You can fill shapes, text boxes, and other objects with an image.

Select a shape.
In the Style pane of the Format inspector, click the disclosure triangle next to Fill.
Choose Image Fill, or Advanced Image Fill if you want to add a tint to the image, from the pop-up menu.
Click Choose, navigate to your photos, then double-click an image to add it.
If you chose Advanced Image Fill, to create a tinted image, click the color well (to the right of the Choose button) to select a tint color.
Drag the Opacity slider in the Colors window to make the tint darker or lighter.
To change how the image fills the object, choose an option from the pop-up menu above the Choose button:
- Original Size: Places the image inside the object without altering the image’s original dimensions.
- Stretch: Sizes the image to fit the object’s dimensions.
- Tile: Repeats the image inside the object.
- Scale to Fill: Makes the image larger or smaller to leave no space around the image.
- Scale to Fit: Resizes the image to fit the object’s dimensions as well as possible.

Add a shadow

You can add a shadow to chart series, shapes, text boxes, and images.

Select a shape, text box, or image.
In the Style pane of the Format inspector, click the disclosure triangle next to Shadow, then choose a type of shadow from the pop-up menu.
- Drop Shadow: Makes the object look like it’s hovering above the sheet.
- Contact Shadow: Makes the object look like it’s standing on the sheet.
- Curved Shadow: Makes the object look like its edges are curled.
Adjust any of the following to change the shadow’s appearance:
- Blur: The softness of a shadow’s edge.
- Offset: The distance between the shadow and the object or text.
- Angle: The angle of the shadow.
- Perspective: The angle of the light source in a contact shadow.

Add a reflection

You can add a reflection to chart series, shapes, text boxes, and images.

Select a shape, text box, or image.
In the Style pane of the Format inspector, select the Reflection checkbox, then drag the slider that appears to make the reflection more or less visible.