Methods to facilitate the processing of color information in spreadsheets described using markup languages are presented. In some embodiments, a method for storing color information for objects in a spreadsheet document described in a markup language may comprise obtaining distinct color values from a plurality of spreadsheet color table objects. The color values in the plurality of spreadsheet color table objects are referenced by spreadsheet objects through a plurality of indexes and each index corresponds to a distinct color table object. The distinct color values are stored in a color palette table object and are accessed using a color palette index. Index values in each of the plurality of color tables are mapped to the color palette index, if the index value and the color palette index value point to the same color value. The mapping permits objects to reference color values in the color palette object table.