Change the color of the Office 2016 title bar

Wobitancrawfodi · 24 Sep 2020

My office apps title bar color is a horrible deep green. I would like blue - for all apps. I can't seem to change the color at all.

I don't have and will never have a Microsoft account.

For themes the only options are colorful, dark grey or white. I want the same color for all applications not green, blue, red etc.

Windows 10 1809 LTSC x64.

Is there a registry tweak? A group policy setting? (I have the administrative templates installed but can't see any settings for a color change) Sometihng else? A Theme perhaps?

thanks

wiganken · 25 Sep 2020

Have you considered using "Winaero Tweaker"? It's free and gives you the ability to change some colours.

AndreTen · 25 Sep 2020

And how did you get that green color? Can you provide us some pictures?

Changing ribbon and title bar colors beyond those few Themes that are supplied is limited to Office for business. If you have that, you can change colors in Admin center

Wobitancrawfodi · 25 Sep 2020

I use WinAwero tweaker a lot, but it doesn't do anything for Office

I'm not trying to change the ribbon color.

I found a file called APP.VisualElementsManifest.xml in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16 where the title bar color appears to be specified. "APP" = Excel, Word, Access etc.

The file contains

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Application xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <VisualElements ForegroundText="light" BackgroundColor="#4269a5" ShowNameOnSquare150x150Logo="on" Square150x150Logo="LogoImages\ExcelLogo.png" Square70x70Logo="LogoImages\ExcelLogoSmall.png"></VisualElements>
</Application>

The background color coincidentally specifies the color of the title bar in the app. However, changing them all to blue (as used on word), to #4269a5 didn't change them on the APP.

I suspect the colors are not hard coded because selecting on of the three themes changes it. So, I'm trying to find the element that the theme changes for the title bar color.

As to an image.. Check this out, this will give you an idea of what I mean... http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-conten...ebars-crop.png

I do not have a Microsoft account. This is a standalone Office 2016 retail pack. Not Office 365.

Edwin · 26 Sep 2020

That Visual Element Manifest is for nothing but the Start Menu Tile.

Ghot · 26 Sep 2020

Wobitancrawfodi said:

My office apps title bar color is a horrible deep green. I would like blue - for all apps. I can't seem to change the color at all.

I don't have and will never have a Microsoft account.

For themes the only options are colorful, dark grey or white. I want the same color for all applications not green, blue, red etc.

Windows 10 1809 LTSC x64.

Is there a registry tweak? A group policy setting? (I have the administrative templates installed but can't see any settings for a color change) Sometihng else? A Theme perhaps?

thanks

Right click the desktop, choose Personalize. Then choose Colors on the left. Pick a color (1st RED circle) and then checkmark the box (2nd RED circle).

Change the color of the Office 2016 title bar-image1.png

Wobitancrawfodi · 26 Sep 2020

That's for Windows colors. It does not affect Office applications.

- - - Updated - - -

Edwin said:

That Visual Element Manifest is for nothing but the Start Menu Tile.

Ah, ok, that explains why I didn't see any change. I use OpenShell for my start menu.

Ghot · 26 Sep 2020

Wobitancrawfodi said:

That's for Windows colors. It does not affect Office applications.

It was just a guess. It works for all my 3rd party programs. I don't have any "Office" programs on here.

Wobitancrawfodi · 26 Sep 2020

Ghot said:

It was just a guess. It works for all my 3rd party programs. I don't have any "Office" programs on here.

No probs. Despite knowing this already, I still tried it :)

Ghot · 26 Sep 2020

Wobitancrawfodi said:

No probs. Despite knowing this already, I still tried it :)

Yeah, there's some programs that just don't listen.

Bitdefender Internet Security is one of them.