Office 2016 - Latest update - Black Theme now Gone

Cliff S · 27 Aug 2016

No I don't sorry.

Wynona · 27 Aug 2016

dacrone said:

I have build 16.0.7167.2040 and do not have Black as an option. I only have Colorful, Dark Gray and White. If I change:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common
UI Theme value to 4

It makes office black until I close and reopen it, at which time it reverts to Colorful. So...

1) Does anyone have this build and the Black option normally?
2) If it has been removed in this build, is it possible to make this reg key stick?

I have 7167.2040 with Colorful, Dark Gray, Black and White.

Wynona · 27 Aug 2016

lopedoggie said:

If you want black theme then personalize your desktop background to high contrast using something that gets your colors to where you want them. Works here and it is black black for office 2016

I don't have my desktop background set to high contrast, and still have the black theme.

dacrone · 27 Aug 2016

I gave in... For all others that want this issue resolved immediately...

Close all office programs
Open an Elevated Command Prompt at:*
"C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun"

Run command:
OfficeC2RClient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.4201.1006

Then once it is done, disable updates in File > Account. Once I downgraded build versions I had the Black option. I set that then updated to newest version again and it disappeared again... I don't know why it does that. So, I downgraded again and it was back. Just sticking with this version unless security becomes a major issue (only home use anyway).

*Also, I have seen a lot of posts regarding Word's document background being too bright of a white. This can be changed easily in Design > Page Color. Change that on your template and save it and you're golden.

dacrone · 10 Sep 2016

Office has since auto-updated and I have lost the black theme again. I know that I can disable the updates, but I would like to stay up-to-date with security features as I have work emails synced in my outlook... Does anyone know the location of the default themes? My idea is to roll another computer back to a previous version, copy the black theme from it's source location and paste it to my work computer and see if it is accessible. I simply cannot find the source location. Any input for this is greatly appreciated.

lx07 · 10 Sep 2016

dacrone said:

Office has since auto-updated and I have lost the black theme again. I know that I can disable the updates, but I would like to stay up-to-date with security features as I have work emails synced in my outlook... Does anyone know the location of the default themes? My idea is to roll another computer back to a previous version, copy the black theme from it's source location and paste it to my work computer and see if it is accessible. I simply cannot find the source location. Any input for this is greatly appreciated.

I'm on 16.0.7167.2040 and have black theme.

While I can't find the theme files I can see (looking with procmon) that when you set the theme to black it updates "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\UI Theme" to 4

(Colorful is 0, Dark Grey is 3, Black is 4 and White is 5)

I can change the theme by updating this registry value direct using regedit (close all Office programs first). Note I'm not using high contrast and black works fine.

You could try that - you may have the black theme files anyway just not the way to enable it..

dacrone · 10 Sep 2016

lx07 said:

I'm on 16.0.7167.2040 and have black theme.

While I can't find the theme files I can see (looking with procmon) that when you set the theme to black it updates "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\UI Theme" to 4

(Colorful is 0, Dark Grey is 3, Black is 4 and White is 5)

I can change the theme by updating this registry value direct using regedit (close all Office programs first). Note I'm not using high contrast and black works fine.

You could try that - you may have the black theme files anyway just not the way to enable it..

Yes, I am able to modify it with the registry trick, but as I stated previously... It reverts back after closing the office program and reopening. This is where I am at a loss as to why it does not show in the drop down menu.

06 Dec 2016

sorry for necroposting, working solution:
open permissions of UI Theme reg folder
go to advanced security settings
disable inheritance, copy permissions - dont delete them
give your user account read only acces to UI Theme folder - not to folder and it's subfolders
after that add Full acces permission to Only it's subfolders,
then your theme will be black and everything will work ok.

Wynona · 06 Dec 2016

1234569 said:

sorry for necroposting, working solution:
open permissions of UI Theme reg folder
go to advanced security settings
disable inheritance, copy permissions - dont delete them
give your user account read only acces to UI Theme folder - not to folder and it's subfolders
after that add Full acces permission to Only it's subfolders,
then your theme will be black and everything will work ok.

Good morning, Numbers; welcome to Ten Forums

Although I don't need the black theme, there are others who do, so thanks for that.

Fifth313ment · 09 Aug 2017

Hey guys, new to the forum. Running Windows 10 Pro Version 1703 BUILD 15063.540 and the newest build of Office 2016 Pro version 1707 Build 8236.2058. I did the above and changed the reg key to 4 and locked it to read only. Now I'm stuck on colorful, even if I change the theme in the app. I think M$ removed the black theme from non-365 builds. Does anyone have any ideas or more information as I'm bumping this thread from back in April it seems, lol. It's crazy as we pay for Office and then cant use certain features as we're not dumb enough to spend $100 per year for life and instead buy the retail version, lol? Thanks again...