The default active cell format in Microsoft Excel isn't all that easy to see, but you can use this easy-to-implement code solution to change that.

You can type codes in VBA Editor to change the cell colors in Excel. Learn how to change the cell background color with VBA Editor in Excel.

On the PC, you can edit the current cell in place by simply pressing F2. On the Mac, the equivalent keyboard shortcut is Control-U, as F2 is assigned to cut the contents of the current cell.

To change Gridline color in Excel, use Excel Options, apply a custom-colored border to the cells, or apply a custom line color. Full details here.

Microsoft Excel updates cell references when you copy an expression. Here are a couple of workarounds for those rare occasions when you don't want to change the cell references.