Change Theme Color Palette in Microsoft Word and Excel

Word Accessibility Tips

This blog article is part a series of blog posts which will explain how different tools in Word can be used to both enhance the accessibility of a document and allow editors to create more consistently formatted documents.

About the Color Theme

For many Word files, the default color theme palette used to select and change colors features blues, greens, oranges, yellows and grays – but no red or purple. Although other colors can be used, the palette is used to generate the options for charts, SmartArt and table options.

Color selection grid showing shades of gray, blue, orange, yellow and green.
Default Microsoft Office color palette.

Understanding how to change the color palette can help you streamline your workflow and create more consistent visual effects.

Select Other Color Palettes

Colors Menu

The color palette menu in Word offers some options. To access this menu:

  1. Open a Microsoft Word file.
  2. Select the Design tab.
  3. Open the Colors menu to the right and select a palette that has different color options. One popular option is the Office 2007-2010 palette.
A menu showing the default Office theme and the Office 2007-2010 theme. Additional details are in the caption below.
The Colors Menu with the older Office 2007-2010 color palette which includes a red and a purple. Note the “Fonts" (Aa icon) menu next to the “Colors” menu.

Using and Editing Themes

Themes are bundles of color and font formatting options that can be applied to a document. The default theme is “Office,” but others can be used. You can also adjust fonts and colors as needed.

Changing and Saving Themes

  1. In a Word file, select the Design tab.
  2. Using the Themes menu on the left, select a Theme.
  3. Use the Colors and Fonts menus on the right to menu on the right to make adjustments to the formatting.

Save and Retrieve a Custom Theme

  1. Once the Colors and Fonts have been set, open the Theme menu.
  2. Select Save Current Theme at the bottom of the menu. A save window opens.
  3. Name and save your .thmx Theme file.
  4. Open a new Word file, then the Theme menu in the Design tab. The saved theme appears in the Custom options.
The Theme menu with two Custom Themes and a series of Office themes below.
The “Theme” menu with both custom and built-in themes.

Setting a New Default

If you prefer a theme other than the Office theme to be the default, then you can select your preferred theme as follows.

  1. Open a Word file.
  2. On the Design tab, select and customize your Theme. Save a custom theme as needed.
  3. In the Design tab, select the option Set as Default. This is located to the right of the Colors and Fonts menu.
  4. In the next window, click Yes if you want the theme to be the default. This will become the default in the next new document.

Excel

The menu options for Themes, Colors and Fonts can be found in the Page Layout tab. They function similarly as the same tools in the Design tab in Word.

Create a Custom Theme

PowerPoint has the most extensive tools to create custom themes which can be exported to Word or Excel. The procedure to do that will be explained in a future blog entry.

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Update: September 8, 2023