Change the appearance of Office programs

The appearance of the Ribbon, which is part of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface, in the 2007 Microsoft Office system follows the Office color scheme and the toolbars, buttons, menus, and dialog boxes in Microsoft Office follow the Microsoft Windows desktop theme settings on your computer. You can change the default Office color scheme and Windows desktop theme to customize the appearance of your Office programs.

What do you want to do?

Change the Office color scheme

Change the Windows desktop theme

Change the Office color scheme

You can customize the appearance of the Office Fluent Ribbon in Microsoft Office Access 2007, Microsoft Office Excel 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, or Microsoft Office Word 2007 by selecting one of the available color schemes.

Notes: 

• Blue is the default color scheme in all 2007 Office release programs that support this option.

• When you change the color scheme in one of the 2007 Office release programs listed below, it changes for all of those programs.

• This feature is not available in Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007, Microsoft Office OneNote 2007, Microsoft Office Project 2007, Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 or Microsoft Office Visio 2007.

Which 2007 Microsoft Office system program are you using?

Access

Access

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Access Options at the bottom of the window.

2. Click Popular, and then click the Color scheme that you want.

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Excel

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options at the bottom of the window.

2. Click Popular, and then click the Color scheme that you want.

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Outlook

1. In an open item, click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Editor Options at the bottom of the window.

2. Click Popular, and then click the Color scheme that you want.

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PowerPoint

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click PowerPoint Options at the bottom of the window.

2. Click Popular, and then click the Color scheme that you want.

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Word

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options at the bottom of the window.

2. Click Popular, and then click the Color scheme that you want.

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Change the Windows desktop theme

A Microsoft Windows theme determines the overall appearance of the user interface, except for the Ribbon or Menu bar, by providing a predefined set of icons, fonts, colors, mouse pointers, sounds, background pictures, and screen savers. You can apply any of the themes that are included with Windows, and you can customize an existing theme by changing its settings after the theme is applied.

Which operating system are you using?

Windows Vista

Windows Vista

1. Click the Start button , and then click Control Panel.

2. In Control Panel, click Personalization, and then click Theme.

3. In the Theme Settings dialog box, select the theme you want.

   Tip: You can further enhance the look of the Windows and Office user interface by customizing the color scheme. In Control Panel, click Personalization, and then click Window Color and Appearance.

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Microsoft Windows XP

1. On the Start menu, click Control Panel.

2. In Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Change the computer's theme.

3. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Appearance tab.

4. In the Windows and buttons list, click the style that you want.

5. In the Color scheme list, click the color scheme you want.

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