How can I quickly change the color of text in a cell in Google Sheets?

Question

How can I quickly, with either a single or double click, assign a color to the text in a cell in Google Sheets?

In order to quickly determine the status of certain pieces of data in a spreadsheet I manage, I assign a text color to a cell's value. I do this dozens of times several times each month, and it is very tedious as it is dependent on an external, manual process (e.g. look at the value in a cell, go do the manual process, come back and manually update the color of the cell's text).

I've looked at running a script or macro when I double-click each cell (not currently available), adding a drop-down to the cell along with the existing value of the cell (not possible as far as I can tell), adding a checkbox to the cell along with the existing cell value (doesn't seem to be possible), and using text formatting from the right-click menu (not available).

Answer 1

Did you know that it's possible to assign a keyboard shortcut to Google Sheets macros?^{(rethorical question)}

From Automate tasks in Google Sheets (emphasis mine)

Edit your macro

You can change the name, add a keyboard shortcut, edit the script, or remove a macro.

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet at sheets.google.com.
2. At the top, click Tools and then Macros and then Manage macros.
3. Make your changes. To remove a macro or edit the script, next to a macro, click More More.
4. Click Update.

Answer 2

You can create a desktop script by creating a macro for color change:

• first you will need to click on the toolbar/ribbon to escape the cell

  

• now use this combo:

  ---

  10x + 15x + 3x + select color

• now you can use something like AHK to save this combo (including that initial click) under one key. for example:

  • red color under F7 key:

    click + tab (10x) + right arrow (15x) + down arrow (4x) + right arrow (1x) + enter

  • reset (black) color under F8 key:

    click + tab (10x) + right arrow (15x) + down arrow (1x) + enter