You can add color behind any selection of text—individual characters, words, or entire paragraphs—to create a highlight effect.
Note: You can also highlight text for review purposes by using commands in the Insert menu or by adding a comment. These highlights don’t appear in printed spreadsheets. See Add and print comments in Numbers on Mac.
Go to the Numbers app on your Mac.
Open a spreadsheet, then select the text you want to highlight.
If the text is in a text box or shape, clicking the text box or shape affects all the text it contains.
In the Format 
sidebar, click the Text tab, then click the Style button near the top of the sidebar.
In the Font section, click 
.
Next to Text Background, click either the color well on the left or the color wheel on the right, then choose a color.
The color well shows colors that match the template you’re using. The color wheel opens the Colors window, where you can choose any color.
Click anywhere on the sheet to close the controls and apply the color.
Tip: If you often add colors behind text, you can create a character style that uses a particular text background color. Then you can choose that style from the Character Styles pop-up menu to highlight selected text with that color. You can also create a keyboard shortcut to apply the character style.
If the color you want to remove is behind selected words in a line or sentence and doesn’t cover the entire paragraph in a single block of color, you can use this method to remove it.
Go to the Numbers app on your Mac.
Open a spreadsheet, then select specific text, or click in the text.
If a comment opens, click Delete in the comment. The highlight was added using the Insert menu or by adding a comment (see the top of this page for more information). If no comment opens, continue with the next steps.
In the Format sidebar, click the Text tab, then click the Style button near the top of the sidebar.
In the Font section, click .
Next to Text Background, click the color well on the left, then click the swatch in the bottom-right corner with the diagonal line.
Use this method when you want a block of color behind paragraphs.
Go to the Numbers app on your Mac.
Open a spreadsheet, then click the paragraph (or select multiple paragraphs) where you want the background color to appear.
Tip: If you don’t want subsequent paragraphs to use the background color, add the color after you press Return to begin a new paragraph, or add the color when you’re finished typing.
In the Format sidebar, click the Text tab, then click the Layout button near the top of the sidebar.
In the Paragraph Background section, do one of the following:
Choose a color designed to match your template: Click the color well on the left, then select a color.
Choose any color: Click the color wheel, then select a color in the Colors window.
If the color you want to remove is a block of color behind one or more paragraphs, you can use this method to remove it.
Go to the Numbers app on your Mac.
Open a spreadsheet, then select the paragraphs where you want to remove the background color.
In the Format sidebar, click the Text tab, then click the Layout button near the top of the sidebar.
Click the disclosure arrow next to Borders & Rules.
In the Paragraph Background section, click the color well on the left, then click the swatch in the bottom-right corner with the diagonal line.
If the color isn’t removed, it may be a color fill for the text box. See Remove a fill.