When PowerPoint 2016 is launched, you see the
Presentation Gallery, as shown in Figure 1. Notice the
bright orange section on the left side of the Presentation Gallery.
Figure 1: Presentation Gallery
Yes, you can change the bright orange to something else and end up with a different-looking PowerPoint program interface. We show you how to change the interface
color in this tutorial.
Follow these steps to learn more:
- Choose any of available Themes within the Presentation Gallery, such as the
Blank Presentation option (see Figure 1). This will create a new, blank presentation, and show you the
PowerPoint 2016 interface (see Figure 2). Notice the bright
orange Ribbon area. Doesn’t this bright orange color hurt your eyes? Fortunately,
PowerPoint 2016 offers you with three more color options for the interface.
Figure 2: PowerPoint 2016 interface- Choose the File menu to bring up the Backstage view,
as shown in Figure 3. Now, select Options (highlighted in blue within Figure 3).
Figure 3: PowerPoint Backstage view- This brings up the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown in
Figure 4. Make sure that the General option is selected within the sidebar (highlighted in blue
within Figure 4). On the right side of the dialog box, locate the Office Theme option (highlighted in
red within Figure 4) within the Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office section.
Figure 4: PowerPoint Options dialog box- Note that Colorful is the option selected within the Office Theme selection box (refer Figure 4);
this is the default option. Now, click the downward pointing arrow within this box to bring up a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Office Theme drop-down list- Here you'll find four color choices:
-
Colorful (default)
Dark Gray
Black
White
- With the Colorful option chosen, you end up with bright orange Ribbon area within your PowerPoint interface, as shown in
Figure 2, earlier on this page. Choose another color option such as Dark Gray and click the OK button. We changed
the interface color into Dark Gray (see Figure 6).
Figure 6: Interface color changed to Dark Gray- Note that any changes you make to the interface color in PowerPoint 2016 also apply to any other Office 2016 applications installed on
your computer such as Word and Excel. Also, when the cursor is placed on the Notes option on the
Status Bar, that area gets highlighted in a brighter orange hue (refer to bottom area of
Figure 6, above).
- Now select the Black color option within the Office Theme drop-down list (refer to Figure 5, shown
earlier on this page), and click the OK button. This causes the interface color to change to black, as you can see in Figure 7.
Notice that the Status Bar and other highlighted areas now sport a darker grey color. This is the new color option, as explained in our
Black Interface in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows tutorial.
Figure 7: Interface color changed to Black- Now, select the White color option within the Office Theme drop-down list (refer to Figure 5,
shown earlier on this page), and click the OK button. This causes the interface color to change to bright white, as you can see in
Figure 8. Notice the bright white Ribbon area and the bright orange Status Bar.
Figure 8: Interface color changed to White
When you change the interface color, notice that the bright orange section on the left side of the Presentation Gallery also changes.
Figure 9 shows the Presentation Gallery with Black selected as the interface color (compare with Figure 1).
Figure 9: Presentation gallery displaying changed interface color
