Google Sheets Apps Script - How to highlight active row with script

[Ethan_19Chess]

I’m having trouble seeing rows clearly on my screen when working with Google Sheets. The lines are hard to distinguish, making it difficult to follow data across columns.

I was wondering if someone could help me create a simple Apps Script that would automatically highlight whichever row I click on or select. This would make it much easier to read and work with my spreadsheets.

I think this kind of visual aid would be really useful for anyone who has similar display issues. Has anyone implemented something like this before? I’m looking for a straightforward solution that doesn’t require too much complex coding.

Any help or code examples would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and assistance with this request.

[SurfingWave]

I built something like this for my team’s project tracker. Apps Script works great if you want the highlighting to stick around for all users viewing the sheet. Here’s what I did: set up a script that triggers when someone selects a cell, clears the old formatting, then highlights the new row. You’ll want to use onSelectionChange and getActiveRange to catch which row is active. Fair warning though - this can bog down bigger sheets since it fires every time you click. If you just want better visibility, conditional formatting might run smoother. But if you’re set on Apps Script, you’ll get way more control over how it looks.

[SkippingLeaf]

Google Sheets has a built-in accessibility feature that’ll fix this without any scripting. Hit the accessibility menu and turn on “high contrast colors” or screen reader support. Found this helping a coworker with the same issue. The native highlighting gets way more visible and follows your cursor automatically. If you want to stick with Apps Script, add a toggle so you can turn highlighting on/off. Constant highlighting gets annoying when you’re entering data, so being able to control it makes it actually useful day-to-day.

[SpinningGalaxy]

hey! i faced this issue too. try turning off gridlines under view. then use conditional formatting with a formula like =ROW()=ROW(A1) to highlight active rows. much simpler than using Apps Script, and you can see the changes right when selecting rows.