Last Updated: February 25, 2016

Restripe tables in Google Docs using Apps Scripts

Are you also annoyed that there's no way to add some sort of zebra-striping to tables in a Google Doc? To add this functionality to your document (which provides a way to re-stripe the rows if you add/remove rows), go to Tools > Script Editor inside the document and add this script:

function onOpen() {
 var ui = DocumentApp.getUi();
 ui.createMenu('Macros')
 .addItem('Restripe tables...', 'restripe')
 .addToUi();
}

function restripe() {
 var tables = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument()
 .getBody()
 .getTables();

 var colors = ['#ffffff', '#f0f0f0'];

 var table, numRows, row, numCells, cell, bgCol;
 for (var i = 0; i < tables.length; i++) {
 table = tables[i];
 numRows = table.getNumRows();
 for (var j = 0; j < numRows; j++) {
 row = table.getRow(j);
 bgCol = colors[j % colors.length];
 numCells = row.getNumCells();
 for (var k = 0; k < numCells; k++) {
 cell = row.getCell(k);
 cell.setBackgroundColor(bgCol);
 }
 }
 }
}

Then reload your document. You should now have a new menu item that will re-stripe the rows in all of your tables. Adjust the colors array as you see fit.

#automation

#google docs

#apps scripts