Microsoft Word comes with several built-in color themes you can switch between in seconds

Word's default blue theme is baked into the ribbon, the sidebar, and the overall interface. You can change it to dark gray, black, white, or a colored accent without touching your document itself. The color scheme you pick affects how the program looks every time you open it, but not how your document prints or appears to someone else who opens your file.

The steps differ slightly depending on whether you use Word on Windows or Mac, and whether you have a recent version or an older one. All versions from Word 2016 onward support theme changes, though the menu locations vary.

Key Takeaways

  • Word's color themes live in File > Options > General (Windows) or Word > Preferences > General (Mac), under the "Office Theme" dropdown.
  • The five main themes are Colorful (blue, the default), Dark Gray, Black, White, and Colored — each changes the ribbon and sidebar appearance but not your document.
  • Changing the theme takes effect immediately and applies to all your Word documents, not just the one you have open.
  • If you want to change only the document background color or text color, that is a separate feature called "Page Color" or font formatting, not the application theme.

How to change the theme on Windows

Open Word and go to File in the top left corner. Click Options at the bottom of the menu. In the Options window, select General from the left sidebar.

Look for the section labeled Office Theme (or sometimes just "Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office"). You will see a dropdown menu with the available themes. Click the dropdown and select the theme you want: Colorful (the default blue), Dark Gray, Black, White, or Colored. Click OK at the bottom of the window. Word will apply the change immediately.

How to change the theme on Mac

Open Word and click Word in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Select Preferences from the dropdown. In the Preferences window, find and click General.

Scroll down until you see Office Theme. Click the dropdown next to it and choose your preferred theme. The options are the same as Windows: Colorful, Dark Gray, Black, White, or Colored. Close the Preferences window and the change takes effect right away.

What each theme looks like and when to use it

Colorful is the default. The ribbon and sidebar are blue, and the background is white. This is what most people see when they first install Word.

Dark Gray makes the ribbon and sidebar a medium gray, which can reduce eye strain in low-light environments. The document area stays white. Black is similar but darker — the ribbon and sidebar are nearly black. White removes most color from the interface, leaving the ribbon and sidebar light gray or off-white.

Colored is less common. It applies a subtle color tint to the ribbon and sidebar based on your Windows accent color or Mac system settings. If you have customized your operating system's accent color, Colored will reflect that choice in Word.

The difference between theme color and document background color

Changing the Office Theme only changes how Word itself looks — the ribbon, menus, and sidebar. It does not change the color of the page inside your document. If you want the actual document page to be a different color, that is a separate step.

To change the document background, go to Design (or Layout in older versions) in the ribbon, then click Page Color. You can choose a solid color, a gradient, a pattern, or a picture. This change affects only the document you have open, and it will print or display when someone else opens your file — unlike the Office Theme, which is personal to your computer.

Reverting to the default blue theme

If you change the theme and want to go back to the original blue, follow the same steps: File > Options > General (Windows) or Word > Preferences > General (Mac), then select Colorful from the Office Theme dropdown.

There is no "reset to default" button, but Colorful is always the first option in the list, so it takes one click to restore.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will changing the theme affect how my document looks when I print it or send it to someone else?

No. The Office Theme only changes the appearance of Word on your computer. Your document will look the same to anyone who opens it, regardless of what theme you use. The only exception is if you also changed the document's page color using the Page Color feature — that change will be visible to others.

Can I use different themes for different documents?

No. The Office Theme is a global setting for Word on your computer. When you change it, it applies to all your Word documents. If you want different documents to look different, you would need to change the page color or formatting of each document individually, not the application theme.

What if I do not see the Office Theme option in my Preferences or Options?

This usually means you have an older version of Word (before 2016) or a very recent version with a different menu layout. Check that you are in the General section of Options or Preferences. If the option still does not appear, your version may not support theme changes, and you would need to update Word.

Does the dark theme use less battery on a laptop?

On older laptop screens, no — the difference is negligible. On newer laptops with OLED or high-refresh displays, a dark theme can save a small amount of battery, but Word's interface is only a small part of your screen. The savings would be minimal compared to the overall power draw of the application.