Is there a dark background theme for Excel?

Question

Is there an easy way to apply a dark theme to my excel windows: black or gray background on all cells, light text.

Ideally, this would be just a theme/view that could be applied, rather than actually changing the colors in the document itself.

score 25 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 27 '21 at 07:05

25

I would do as @CharlieRB suggests and additionally set a small background image, any color, or image that works for you. You can make this a default template as well if you like. Not sure how printing will work for you, but you could set a custom view to deal with printing, if that is an issue.

Page Layout>Background

Create and select a small image

enter image description here

edited Sep 27 '21 at 07:05

Sandra Rossi

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answered May 12 '12 at 19:40

datatoo

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datatoo, yeah something like that would be fine. how do i set the background image as you suggest? i want to do it at the theme, rather than the document, level. thanks. – Jonah May 13 '12 at 06:48
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Well it doesn't appear the theme level will allow that. It does seem like themes are limited in that way. But setting a default template with a small dark image for the background works. Just not the way you want I guess. Why they would allow altering of everything but the base background is beyond me. – datatoo May 13 '12 at 20:57

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '12 at 13:01

7

Yes there is. This can be done in both Excel 2007 & 2010. I have 2010, so to change it go to

FILE > OPTIONS > GENERAL

These options are available there;

enter image description here

answered May 11 '12 at 13:01

CharlieRB

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Hi Charlie, I am on 2007 but I found the exact same menu you describe. Unfortunately, it only changes the color scheme of the surrounding window (frame, menu, tool ribbon), not the color scheme of the cells themselves. Thus I am still looking at a white screen. The goal is something easier on the eyes, the excel equivalent of the dark themes prevalent in many popular text editors, like this one for vim: http://hans.fugal.net/vim/colors/desert.html – Jonah May 11 '12 at 17:56
Have you tried Quick Styles? You should be able to modify and save one to your liking. [Apply, create, or remove a cell style](http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/apply-create-or-remove-a-cell-style-HP001216732.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA010178624). – CharlieRB May 14 '12 at 01:34
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Looks like this isn't possible with Excel 2016 :( – Raunak Thomas Nov 07 '20 at 14:49
In recent versions of Excel, you can now find the equivalent setting in **"File">"Options">"General">"Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office">"Office Theme"**. – adamency Nov 23 '21 at 00:39

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 08 '13 at 01:31

ok so i just figured out a solution, but it comes with drawbacks. you can use windows aero to change the default color of all programs which will do exactly what you're asking for, but will affect most standard programs as well. so here's what you do:

right click on desktop
select 'personalize'
select 'window color' button
select 'advanced appearance settings'
in the box that opens look for a box that says 'active window'
click in the white space of that box
just below said box it will have a drop-down menu titled 'Color 1'
select this drop-down menu and choose any color you'd like

This will change the background color of excel, word, etc. Hope this helps.

This is assuming everyone using the Office suite is on Windows... — Matt Fletcher, Dec 21 '17 at 18:26
Cannot follow these steps on Windows 10, perhaps the menus have changed. — Nagev, Jan 28 '22 at 14:11

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 05 '19 at 16:21

So, this is not my answer and I found this 'workaround' from a reddit user u/towndown8. He posted this image, and I am posting the link. Hopefully, it helps people as it helped me.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/UZmAk.jpg

this is the original thread I got it from: https://www.reddit.com/r/excel/comments/b9fo97/dark_mode_question_how_to_get_the_worksheet_to/

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 22 '22 at 02:26

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For those who are writing about Options and General Settings, you haven't read the question properly. You're offering application theme ideas. The OP is asking for the cells themselves to be dark mode.

A solution is here: How to make MS Excel cells display dark background with white text instead of the reverse which is default?

if you're okay with macro-enabled Excel documents.

Example Output - Screenshot

answered Apr 22 '22 at 02:26

Mike250

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As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Apr 22 '22 at 03:05
The fact an answer was selected as correct by the person who asked the question indicates it is you who did not understand the question. Thank you for trying to be helpful. Next time, check the answers that are selected as correct to see if you may have misunderstood something. – music2myear Apr 22 '22 at 04:18
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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 12 '18 at 15:53

Office 365 now has dark mode for Mojave OS on Mac. It just came out today for the Insiders Fast track updates. I've been looking forward to this for years.

I don't prefer the insider's updates, because I don't want to test Excel for Microsoft. Also, the updates come too often, disrupting my work flow.

Can't wait!

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 29 '18 at 16:12

I have managed to get my Excel, Word and Notepad to all show light gray background by default by changing the Windows Theme, which works well for me. I have windows 10 and Office 2016 and have been struggling with this for a long time. I had to create a new theme and change the Window Color to gray.

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 16 '21 at 13:47

I'm trying out a macro-based approach - have recently written this: https://stu0292.github.io/ExcelDarkMode

The idea being a personal workbook macro (so it runs for any workbook, including non .xlsx) that toggles the colours on the cell styles.

It's not perfect but feedback/contributions welcome.

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered May 01 '22 at 13:54

I use the following Excel VBA code to toggle all sheets in a workbook between Dark Mode and Light (default) Mode. The code uses the background color in cell A1 of each sheet to determine how to toggle the colors.

Sub darkModeToggle()
Dim sh As Worksheet, r As Range, dark As Boolean
Dim borderTypes As Variant, border As Variant
borderTypes = Array(xlEdgeLeft, xlEdgeTop, xlEdgeBottom, _
              xlEdgeRight, xlInsideVertical, xlInsideHorizontal)
For Each sh In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
  Set r = sh.Range("A1") 'toggle color based on A1 of each sheet
  With sh.Cells
    If r.Interior.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorDark1 Then dark = True
      If dark Then
        .Interior.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorLight1 'cell color
        .Font.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorDark1      'text color
      Else
        .Interior.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorDark1
        .Font.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorLight1
      End If
      For Each border In borderTypes              'border color

        .Borders(border).TintAndShade = -0.14996795556505
      Next
  End With
Next sh
End Sub

The result looks like this:

I wasn't able to figure out a way to change the IDE colors using code, so I just do it manually using Tools>Options>Editor Format. The values for the above image are: