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How to Customize Pipeline Stage Colors in Opportunities

Pipeline stage colors in Opportunities make it faster to manage pipelines and easier to visually scan deals at a glance. This article shows how to create and edit pipelines directly from the Opportunities pipeline dropdown, customize stage colors, and control how those colors appear across Kanban, List, and record views.

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What is Pipeline Stage Colors in Opportunities?


Pipeline Stage Colors is an enhancement to the Opportunities area in SourCherry that streamlines how you access and manage pipelines, while adding powerful visual stage coloring. Instead of jumping into Settings to create or edit a pipeline, you can do it directly from the pipeline dropdown in Opportunities and you can assign colors to each stage that display consistently across views.


Stage colors can be configured per pipeline and then displayed as a small colored dot or as a full background tint, helping your team quickly identify where each deal sits in your process.

Key Benefits of Pipeline Stage Colors in Opportunities 

This feature is designed to reduce clicks and increase visual clarity so teams can work faster in Opportunities. Understanding these benefits helps you decide how best to configure your pipelines and standardize visual cues across your organization.

 





Pipeline Dropdown Navigation in Opportunities

Streamlined pipeline navigation lets you create and edit pipelines from the same dropdown you already use to switch pipelines. This reduces context switching and makes on-the-fly pipeline adjustments much easier for admins and sales leaders.

 

When youā€™re working in Opportunities:

 





Stage Color Customization

Stage color customization allows you to assign distinct colors to each stage within a pipeline, giving your team a shared visual code for different steps (e.g., new leads, hot deals, onboarding). Thoughtful color choices make pipeline reviews faster and more intuitive.

Key concepts:

 



Stage Color Display Options

 

Display options control how your chosen colors appear in the UI, letting you balance subtle cues (dots) with stronger emphasis (background tints). Selecting the right style helps you avoid visual clutter while still making stages stand out.

 

You can choose between three display styles: 

 




You can adjust these styles at any time from the pipelineā€™s stage settings.


Where Stage Colors Appear in Opportunities

 

Stage colors are most effective when they appear consistently across your CRM views. This feature ensures that your color choices follow the opportunity wherever youā€™re viewing it, so your team can rely on the same visual meaning everywhere. 

 

Once configured, stage colors appear in:

 



Individual opportunity views and contact details surfaces will respect the stageā€™s color, helping you spot the dealā€™s position in the pipeline even when youā€™re away from the main Kanban. 

 

Because these visuals are pipeline-level settings, every user with access to that pipeline benefits from the same, consistent color scheme.


How To Setup Opportunities ā€“ Pipeline Navigation & Stage Colors

Proper setup ensures that your team can quickly adjust pipelines from Opportunities and use colors in a way that supports your actual workflow. The steps below walk through enabling navigation shortcuts and configuring stage colors for one or more pipelines.


Open Opportunities - Pipeline Menu


To get started, navigate to the Opportunities area from your sub-account by selecting Opportunities in the left-hand sidebar. Once youā€™re in, switch to the Pipelines tab at the top of the page. From here, you can easily create a new pipeline by clicking the + Create Pipeline button located in the top-right corner. 


This allows you to set up and manage your pipelines without leaving the Opportunities section, making the process faster and more streamlined.




Create Pipeline


Click the + Create Pipeline button to quickly set up a new pipeline without leaving the Opportunities view. Use this when you need to organize deals into a new process (e.g., a separate pipeline for renewals or onboarding) so your workflows stay structured and easy to manage.




Edit Existing Pipeline


If you donā€™t need to create a new pipeline, you can alternatively update an existing one by clicking the three-dot (ā‹®) menu next to the pipeline and selecting Edit. This is useful when your process already exists and you simply want to refine stages, update probabilities, or apply stage colors.



Pipeline Name


Enter a Pipeline Name that clearly reflects its purpose (e.g., ā€œSales Pipelineā€ or ā€œClient Onboardingā€) so your team can easily identify and switch between pipelines. 


Use the Opportunity-level probability toggle if you want each deal to have its own probability (useful for custom forecasting), or leave it off to follow stage-based probabilities for a more standardized approach. 


Stage Color


Stage Color Options let you control how visual cues appear across your pipeline, helping your team quickly understand deal progress and prioritize work. By selecting the right display style, you can balance clarity and simplicity based on how your team reviews and manages opportunities.


Assign a color to each stage to visually represent its meaning (e.g., green for won, red for risk, yellow for follow-up). 


Default (No Color)


This option keeps your pipeline clean with no visual color indicators applied to stages. Use this when your team relies more on filters, tags, or detailed data rather than visual cues. It works best in simple workflows where color is not needed to interpret deal progress.



Colored Dot


This option adds a small colored dot next to each stage to provide a subtle visual indicator. Use this when your team works with list-heavy views and needs quick stage identification without overwhelming the interface. Itā€™s ideal for maintaining a clean layout while still adding a layer of visual context.



Background Tint


This option applies a soft color tint to the entire stage row or card, making stages highly visible. Use this when you need to quickly scan pipelines, identify priorities, or manage high volumes of deals. Itā€™s especially useful for sales teams that rely on fast visual recognition during pipeline reviews.





Verify permissions and rollout to your team (optional but recommended)


If youā€™re an admin, review pipeline permissions so only the right users can modify pipeline structures and stage colors, while others still benefit from the visuals.


Communicate your color conventions (e.g., what each color means) so your team interprets the visuals consistently.

Refine over time.


Monitor how your team uses the colors and adjust as needed.

If you introduce new stages or processes, update colors to keep your visual language coherent.

 

For step-by-step guidance on broader pipeline configuration (beyond color and navigation), refer to ā€œStep-by-Step Guide: Creating Pipelinesā€ in the SourCherry knowledge base.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: Do stage colors change based on the user, or are they global?
Stage colors are configured at the pipeline level and apply to all users who have access to that pipeline. Individual users cannot override stage colors for themselves.


Q: Can I use different color schemes for different pipelines?
Yes. Each pipeline can have its own set of stage colors and display style, so your sales pipeline, onboarding pipeline, and support pipeline can all use distinct visual schemes. 


Q: How is this different from Smart Tags or other color-based indicators?
Stage colors are tied to where a deal sits in your pipeline (the stage). Smart Tags are rule-based labels that apply color to opportunities based on conditions like value, age, or activity. Many teams use both: stage colors for process steps, Smart Tags for urgency or health. 


Q: What if I donā€™t want color at all in my pipeline?
You can set stages to Default (no color), which removes added coloring while keeping your pipeline structure intact. This is useful if you prefer a simple UI or rely more on tags and filters than on color cues. 


Q: Can all users create or edit pipelines from the Opportunities dropdown?
No. The ability to create and edit pipelinesā€”whether from the dropdown or the Pipelines pageā€”depends on user roles and pipeline permissions. Admins can restrict who can view and modify specific pipelines. 


Q: Do stage colors affect automation or reporting?
Stage colors themselves are visual only and donā€™t change how automations trigger or how data is calculated. However, they can make it easier to read dashboards and reports that are already based on pipeline stages. 


Q: Will stage colors appear on exported data?
Exports include the stage names but not the visual color styling. Colors are applied within the SourCherry interface, not in CSV or external files. 


Q: What happens to stage colors if I rename or reorder stages?
If you rename or reorder stages within a pipeline, the associated colors move with those stages. The visual configuration remains attached to the stage itself, not its position on the screen.