This is a passionate plea from not only me, but millions of other people who have to deal with Excel spreadsheets on a daily basis: Please refrain from using 8000 colors if you’re creating a spreadsheet. I received a spreadsheet the other day and there was at least 15 different colors used to differentiate the data. The result was that it took me twice as long as it should have to review it. This is a disturbing trend that seems to be getting worse, and I really want it to end.

Why? Well, if you have to keep looking at a legend to figure out a spreadsheet, then it can take an extra ordinary amount of time to get your work done. Not only that, but having a ton of colors popping out at you really makes it hard to read or analyze anything. As an alternative, I suggest the following:

1.) Use tabs - If you find that you need more than three to five colors to differentiate different elements on a single spreadsheet, then you probably should be breaking that data into different tabs. This makes it much easier to read and lets the audience skip right to information they need.

2.) Use “regular” colors - Here’s a hint: If you start using colors that are odd mixes of the normal colors, than you’re probably using too many. Stick to the basic colors because your audience is used to them and you are inherently limiting yourself to the number of colors you are using.

3.) Use a small legend - Once again, if your legend ends up having more than three to five entries, you’re going overboard. Keep the size of your legend reasonable, and don’t just blindly add new entries without taking a look at the bigger picture.

Overall, just be reasonable. If you can’t take a look at the spreadsheet you just created and decipher it within a few minutes, then you need to rethink your approach. Trust me, your audience will appreciate the extra effort.