MS Office 2013 themes

[Victek]

A generous friend gave me a copy of Office Pro 2013. After I got it installed though I'm feeling like I wasted my time. I had been using Office 2003 - in particular Outlook 2003 for calendaring - and Outlook 2013 is extremely low contrast, blindingly white. I've changed the theme to Dark Grey which barely makes a difference. Does anyone know if MS plans to offer more color schemes or if there are any third party solutions? If not I will probably remove 2013 and go back to 2003.

 

[ThrashZone]

See if this helps,
I need to change my color theme. - Microsoft Community

 

[Marshalhubs]

You can download more themes from Microsoft store: Templates - Presentations, Spreadsheets, Documents, Calendars & More - Office.com

 

[Victek]

See if this helps,
I need to change my color theme. - Microsoft Community

Thanks for this. I actually was able to install additional themes but unfortunately they don't change UI. Apparently there is no solution/alternative at the moment for the white/grey UI of MSO 2013.

 

[robinb9]

many people are saying that office 2013 is very bright. I have it but on my monitor I do not see it because i do not have my monitor on the brightest, but i went to another clients computer who has the same complaint and all we did was lower the brightness in the monitor when he uses office. I know this is a pain but it works

 

[Victek]

many people are saying that office 2013 is very bright. I have it but on my monitor I do not see it because i do not have my monitor on the brightest, but i went to another clients computer who has the same complaint and all we did was lower the brightness in the monitor when he uses office. I know this is a pain but it works

Yes, that's worth considering, but it may not solve the problem. For one thing the monitor brightness is at a good setting for everything else I do. Also, the problem with Office 2013 apps is not just the "whiteness" but low contrast. The "dark grey" theme adds barely enough contrast to make it tolerable - dimming the monitor may make it worse. Fortunately I don't need to use it much so I may be able to get by. But if necessary I'll remove it and go back to Office 2003. It's pretty sad that 10 year old software actually has better functionality.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Office 2010 --Much better -- you can also set themes and backgrounds different from that hideous White colour in Office 2013.

For instance I prefer something like this (EXCEL 2010) 1st screenshot - compared with EXCEL 2013 second screenshot

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Victek]

Hi there
Office 2010 --Much better -- you can also set themes and backgrounds different from that hideous White colour in Office 2013.

For instance I prefer something like this (EXCEL 2010) 1st screenshot - compared with EXCEL 2013 second screenshot

Cheers
jimbo

Yep, that's exactly my problem. I'd happily downgrade to Office 2010, but it isn't possible as far as I know.

 

[robinb9]

I cannot understand why you do not like the white color, I have it on 3 machines and it does not bother my eyes nor my husbands but we are over 50 yrs of age. Maybe at that age your eyes change so one does see differently. It is interesting cause my son is 40 and he agrees with you guys

 

[Victek]

I cannot understand why you do not like the white color, I have it on 3 machines and it does not bother my eyes nor my husbands but we are over 50 yrs of age. Maybe at that age your eyes change so one does see differently. It is interesting cause my son is 40 and he agrees with you guys

You are among the fortunate ones. I don't know if there is a correlation with age, but if you google the issue you will see that a great many people are having a problem with the brightness and low contrast of the 2013 UI.

 

[ThrashZone]

It's similar to looking at a piece of white paper in direct sun light/ Blinding
Luckily office 2007 is not bad.

 

[jimbo45]

I cannot understand why you do not like the white color, I have it on 3 machines and it does not bother my eyes nor my husbands but we are over 50 yrs of age. Maybe at that age your eyes change so one does see differently. It is interesting cause my son is 40 and he agrees with you guys

You are among the fortunate ones. I don't know if there is a correlation with age, but if you google the issue you will see that a great many people are having a problem with the brightness and low contrast of the 2013 UI.

Hi there
whether one LIKES it or not IMO is a bit irrelevant. What I think the OP wants to know is why have some of the background UI customisations that were available in previous versions been removed in Office 2013 so there is no choice (the difference between the standard white and grey is almost zero).

I think you'll also see that with the introduction of Office 2013 this has been a CONTANT GRUMBLE and providing the user with a choice of background can't be that difficult.

Also not everybody's eyes work the same -- and as for using Office 2013 OUTDOOR or in bright light -- just forget it.

I get the impression that those guys who designed the UI for office 2013 must have been designing this at the bottom of a deep coalmine with only Miner's lamps for illumination.

Incidentally what are the customisation options for Office 365 like -- any better or worse than Office 2013 or just the same.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[robinb9]

I cannot understand why you do not like the white color, I have it on 3 machines and it does not bother my eyes nor my husbands but we are over 50 yrs of age. Maybe at that age your eyes change so one does see differently. It is interesting cause my son is 40 and he agrees with you guys

You are among the fortunate ones. I don't know if there is a correlation with age, but if you google the issue you will see that a great many people are having a problem with the brightness and low contrast of the 2013 UI.

Hi there
whether one LIKES it or not IMO is a bit irrelevant. What I think the OP wants to know is why have some of the background UI customisations that were available in previous versions been removed in Office 2013 so there is no choice (the difference between the standard white and grey is almost zero).

I think you'll also see that with the introduction of Office 2013 this has been a CONTANT GRUMBLE and providing the user with a choice of background can't be that difficult.

Also not everybody's eyes work the same -- and as for using Office 2013 OUTDOOR or in bright light -- just forget it.

I get the impression that those guys who designed the UI for office 2013 must have been designing this at the bottom of a deep coalmine with only Miner's lamps for illumination.

Incidentally what are the customisation options for Office 365 like -- any better or worse than Office 2013 or just the same.

Cheers
jimbo

Office 365 is the same as office 2013, the difference are you get more options outside of the office software program, once you pay for office 365 depending on which plan you take ( and understand office 365 is geared toward the business world only) you get the opportunity to download office 2013 and any upgrades from it when you renew each year

 

[robinb9]

I have office 365 but the watered down version where I pay a monthly fee to Microsoft of $6 to put my website and domain on their servers and the usage of their servers for my website email address, amount a few more features, I already have office 2013 so it was not worth it for me to go with the higher plans but I am a reseller for Microsoft to sell office 365 so I am trained in all their plans

 

[techtitan100]

I hate to tell you this, but at the same time Windows XP goes off support, it will be the same way with Office 2003

 

[robinb9]

I hate to tell you this, but at the same time Windows XP goes off support, it will be the same way with Office 2003

I hat e to tell you but you are absolutely correct, but we were talking about 2013 not 2003

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Anybody using Office 365 -- the thing I wanted to know was "Is the Interface the same horrible one that Office 2013 has" -- not the relative merits or prices of Office 365 vs the rest.

There is a possibility I might have to start using Office 365 at work so I need to "prepare for the worst" !! although Office 2010 is staying on MY machine for as long as possible.

(Supplementary question -- Does Office 365 have all the language packs that Office 2010 for example has).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Victek]

I hate to tell you this, but at the same time Windows XP goes off support, it will be the same way with Office 2003

Why do you think that's important?

 

[theveterans]

Hi there
Anybody using Office 365 -- the thing I wanted to know was "Is the Interface the same horrible one that Office 2013 has" -- not the relative merits or prices of Office 365 vs the rest.

There is a possibility I might have to start using Office 365 at work so I need to "prepare for the worst" !! although Office 2010 is staying on MY machine for as long as possible.

(Supplementary question -- Does Office 365 have all the language packs that Office 2010 for example has).

Cheers
jimbo

I'm an Office 365 University subscriber. Office 365 and Office 2013 are the same software. The difference is in licensing. Office 365 is subscription based aimed at consumers and small businesses while Office 2013 is volume licensed for large corporations and universities. I think universities can also get the "Office 365 Education" subscription instead of the volume license. The good thing about 365 is the integration with other MS acquired products like Skydrive and free 60 minutes of Skype calls per month. In addition, once Office 2016 arrives, people who are subscribed can get the latest Office as long as their subscription hasn't expired yet. "Office 365 doesn't come with language packs like you install with Office 2013" (not 100% sure about the quoted text) since when I want to change the language, I have to go to my Office.com account and download another office setup with a different language, but I have to change my default language on my account to the language I want.

In sum, Office 365 gets the complete "horrible" white blinding UI that Office 2013 has. I'm fine with the light gray theme though.
Regards

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
If I can't install the language packs then office 365 is a big NO NO.

Office 2010 AND 2013 allow installation of the language packs - and in the OPTIONS you can change the display language (note I'm talking here about OFFICE not Windows itself which is another issue).

Change the options in Language when you open any Office component - e.g EXCEL. - A change in any one component changes them in ALL components.

Cheers
jimbo