Excel Dark Mode

Frank notes that Microsoft Word has a dark mode that allows the background to be dark and the printing in white. He finds this a great setting when he's working in a document for a long time. So, he wonders if Excel has a similar setting.

There isn't a dark mode in Excel like you have in Word. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't adjust how information is displayed in Excel to better match your preferences.

First, if you are using Excel in Microsoft 365, you could go into your account settings and modify the themes used there. This will, though, not affect just Excel, but all Microsoft 365 apps. Just click the File tab of the ribbon and then choose Account. On the resulting screen, use the Office Theme drop-down to choose either Black or Dark Gray.

If you aren't using Excel in Microsoft 365, in some other versions you can also access these theme settings by following these settings:

1. Display the Excel Options dialog box. (Display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
2. General should be clicked, by default, at the left of the dialog box. (See Figure 1.) (If it isn't for some reason, click it.)



Figure 1. The General options of the Excel Options dialog box in Excel 2016.

3. Use the Office Theme drop-down list to choose either Black or Dark Gray.
4. Click OK.

You should note that if you choose Use System Setting in the drop-down list, then Excel will use whatever colors you have specified within Windows—including the colors used by Windows to implement light or dark modes. Thus, you could specify the mode you want within the operating system, and then chose Use System Setting in the above steps and that may provide the result you want.

The approaches discussed so far change the Excel interface. They don't, however, change what you see in the various worksheets you use in Excel. If you want to change that, then press Ctrl+A to select all the cells and you can apply a shade to each of the cells. If necessary, you can also change the text color so that it contrasts nicely with the background shading. Remember that any changes to the worksheet will affect only the worksheet on which you are working, so you may want to simply leave your worksheets as they are.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (13131) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.