How to Change Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) Theme on Mac

If you'd like to change the appearance theme of Microsoft Office apps, including Word, Excel, or PowerPoint on your Mac, so that they visually match the light theme or dark mode theme appearance of Mac OS, you can do so with an adjustment in the Microsoft Office app settings.

Obviously, the appearance of Office will depend on what the Mac default appearance theme is set to. If the computer only supports the Light mode Mac theme, then Office will look that way. However, if your MacOS version is new enough and Office is updated to a recent version, the Office suite apps will respect the Dark Mode theme in Mac OS if it's in use.

The visual theme change occurs immediately, and assuming you choose Classic, you'll find the colorful window dressing is stripped and returned to match the grays of whatever the Mac OS theme is set to. You'll get a little notification informing you that changing the Microsoft Office theme will impact all other Microsoft Office apps.

To change the theme in Microsoft Office, follow these steps:

• Look under the 'Personalize' section to find 'Office Theme:' and choose 'Classic'

• Pull down the 'Word' menu and choose 'Preferences'

For this walkthrough, we're demonstrating this process in Microsoft Word. If you change the theme in Microsoft Word, it will impact the theme in Microsoft Excel as well, and vice versa. This change can be invoked from any of the Microsoft Office apps, and the theme change applies to all other Microsoft Office apps too.

By following these simple steps, you can easily switch between the Light mode and Dark Mode themes for your Microsoft Office apps on Mac.

Office 365 dark mode mac