Apply or customize a document theme

You can quickly and easily format an entire document to give it a professional and modern look by applying a document theme . A document theme is a set of formatting choices that include a set of theme colors, a set of theme fonts (including heading and body text fonts), and a set of theme effects (including lines and fill effects).

Programs such as Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint provide several predefined document themes, but you can also create your own by customizing an existing document theme, and then by saving it as a custom document theme. Document themes are shared across Office programs so that all of your Office documents can have the same, uniform look.What do you want to do?

Apply a document theme

Customize a document theme

Save a document theme

Apply a document theme

You can change the document theme that is applied by default in Office programs, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, by selecting another predefined document theme or a custom document theme. Document themes that you apply immediately affect the styles that you can use in your document.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In Word or Excel: On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Themes.

     or

   • In PowerPoint: On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click the document theme that you want, or click More to see all available document themes.

   • 

2. Do one of the following:
   • To apply a predefined document theme, click the document theme that you want to use under Built-In.
   • To apply a custom document theme, click the document theme that you want to use under Custom.

     Note Custom is available only if you created one or more custom document themes. For more information about creating custom document themes, see Customize a document theme.

3. If a document theme that you want to use is not listed, click Browse for Themes to find it on your computer or a network location.
4. To search for other document themes on Office Online, click Search Office Online.

Tip In PowerPoint, you can apply a document theme to all slides, to selected slides only, or to the master slide. Right-click the document theme, and then click the option that you want.

Customize a document theme

To customize a document theme, you start by changing the colors, the fonts, or the line and fill effects that are used. Changes that you make to one or more of these theme components immediately affect the styles that you have applied in the active document. If you want to apply these changes to new documents, you can save them as a custom document theme.

Customize the theme colors

Theme colors contain four text and background colors, six accent colors, and two hyperlink colors. The colors in the Theme Colors button represent the current text and background colors. The set of colors that you see next to the Theme Colors name after you click the Theme Colors button represent the accent and hyperlink colors for that theme. When you change any of these colors to create your own set of theme colors, the colors that are shown in the Theme Colors button and next to the Theme Colors name will change accordingly.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In Word or Excel: On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Theme Colors.

     or

   • In PowerPoint: On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click Theme Colors.

     

2. Click Create New Theme Colors.
3. Under Theme colors, click the button of the theme color element that you want to change.
4. Under Theme Colors, select the colors that you want to use.

   Tip Under Sample, you can see the effect of the changes that you make. To see how the colors that you select affect styles that you have applied in your document, click Preview.

5. Repeat step 3 and 4 for all of the theme color elements that you want to change.
6. In the Name box, type an appropriate name for the new theme colors.
7. Click Save.

   Tip To return all theme color elements to their original theme colors, you can click Reset before you click Save.

Customize the theme fonts

Theme fonts contain a heading font and a body text font. When you click the Theme Fonts button , you can see the name of the heading font and body text font that is used for each theme font below the Theme Fonts name. You can change both of these fonts to create your own set of theme fonts.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In Word or Excel: On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Theme Fonts.

     or

   • In PowerPoint: On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click Theme Fonts.

     

2. Click Create New Theme Fonts.
3. In the Heading font and Body font boxes, select the fonts that you want to use.

   Tip The sample is updated with the fonts that you select.

4. In the Name box, type an appropriate name for the new theme fonts.
5. Click Save.

Select a set of theme effects

Theme effects are sets of lines and fill effects. When you click the Theme Effects button , you can see the lines and fill effects that are used for each set of theme effects in the graphic that is displayed with the Theme Effects name. Although you cannot create your own set of theme effects, you can choose the one that you want to use in your own document theme.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In Word or Excel: On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Theme Effects.

     or

   • In PowerPoint: On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click Theme Effects.

     

   • Select the effect that you want to use.

Save a document theme

Any changes that you make to the colors, the fonts, or the line and fill effects of a document theme can be saved as a custom document theme that you can apply to other documents.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In Word or Excel: On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Themes.

     or

   • In PowerPoint: On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click More .

     

2. Click Save Current Theme.
3. In the File Name box, type an appropriate name for the theme.

   Note A custom document theme is saved in the Document Themes folder and is automatically added to the list of custom themes.