Themes in Excel

Themes For Excel

Themes available in excel are used in formatting the entire document or workbook, we can use the themes provided by excel or we can customize it according to our choice, themes are available in excel in the page layout tab with the name of themes option, there are different options for colors and effects fonts.

Where are the Themes Stored in Excel?

Now the first question would be is where are these themes hidden in excel? The truth is that it is not hidden in excel rather it is visible just in front of us but we haven’t recognized it for long.

Themes are available under Page Layout in excel. Under themes, we have Themes, different colors, Fonts, Effects.

In excel 2013 we have as many as 31 inbuilt themes available, 23 different colors, 15 different inbuilt Effects.

Examples

Example #1 – Change Default Theme

Now we will see the practical example of themes. I have created a basic default chart of sales of many years & one of the shapes.

This is the themes of the default theme of Office. In order to change the theme of these two i.e. chart & shape go to Page Layout and in the above available themes, it will preview you the result before clicking on it.

In the above image, I have selected the theme type called Facet. Like this, you can select any of the above themes and take look at the preview and finalize your theme.

Example #2 – Change the Row Header & Column Header View

You must have familiar with the default row header and column header which is given by Microsoft like the below one.

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Step 1: Go to Page Layout and select Fonts.

Step 2: Click on the drop-down and select Customize Fonts.

Step 3: Now you will see below the new dialogue box.

Step 4: Change the Heading Font to Harlow Solid Italic and change the Body Font to Footlight MT Light. Now on the right-hand side, you see the preview.

Step 5: You can name this font theme.

Now, look how row and column headers fonts have changed.

It is slightly different than the default theme.

Example #3 – Create Your Own Theme Under Custom Theme

If you are not satisfied with the available wide variety of themes from Microsoft you can create your own theme and apply it to make the difference.

Usually, the theme is the makeup of three elements one is colors, fonts, and effects. In order to design your own theme follow the below steps.

Step 1: Go to Page Layout and select Colors.

Step 2: Click on colors drop-down list in excel and select Customize Colors.

Step 3: Apply below colors (you can give your own colors) and name your theme and click on Save.

Step 4: Now click on Fonts and select Customize Fonts.

Step 5: Select the fonts as per your wish.

Note: We cannot change the font size it will be by default 11 sizes.

Step 6: Click on Effects and select any one of the existing effects. We cannot customize this, we have select any one of the existing effects.

Now we have created all theme options.

Step 7: Click on theme drop-down and select Save Current Theme.

Step 8: Now we will see a different save window. Give them a name and select the Save type as .thmx

Now we have created our own theme. When the excel workbook opens up we can see this theme under Page Layout > Theme > Custom.

Things to Remember

If you share the file which has a custom theme to your colleague theme will not be available for them but theme color and font styles will be applicable.
The theme is applicable for excel charts, tables, shapes, slicers, pivot tables.
Use very light colors in your custom themes.