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A theme (theme: A combination of theme colors, theme fonts, and theme effects. A theme may be applied to a file as a single selection.) is a quick and easy way to give a professional and modern look to an entire 2007 Microsoft Office system document. A document theme is a set of formatting choices that include a set of theme colors (theme colors: A set of colors that is used in a file. Theme colors, theme fonts, and theme effects compose a theme.), a set of theme fonts (theme fonts: A set of major and minor fonts that is applied to a file. Theme fonts, theme colors, and theme effects compose a theme.) (including heading and body text fonts), and a set of theme effects (theme effects: A set of visual attributes that is applied to elements in a file. Theme effects, theme colors, and theme fonts compose a theme.) (including lines and fill effects). If you want to change fonts or line spacing in your 2007 Microsoft Office system documents, see:
Every document that you create by using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, Microsoft Office Word 2007, or Microsoft Office Excel 2007 has a theme inside it — even blank, new documents. The default theme is Office Theme, with a white background and dark, subtle colors. When you apply a new theme,
Office Theme
is replaced by a new look, such as the dark background and bright colors of the Metro theme. If you want a different default theme from the Office Theme, you can save time by pre-configuring your document with a different default theme. All content (such as text, tables,
and SmartArt graphics) is dynamically linked to the theme, so changing the theme automatically changes the look of your content, unless you customize it.
Which 2007 Microsoft Office system
program are you using?
Excel
To change the default theme in Office Excel 2007, you need to create a new, default workbook
template (template: A workbook that you create and use as the basis for other similar workbooks. You can create templates for workbooks and worksheets. The default template for workbooks is called Book.xlt. The default template for worksheets is called Sheet.xlt.) or a new, default worksheet template. A workbook template can contain multiple worksheets, whereas a worksheet template contains only one worksheet. Workbook and worksheet templates can contain default text, such as page headers, column and row labels, formulas, themes, and other formatting information. The default workbook template is automatically used to create new workbooks, and the default worksheet template is used to automatically create new worksheets.
Create the default template from a new blank workbook
- Click the Microsoft Office Button
, and then click
New.
- Under Templates, click
Blank and recent, and then under Blank and recent,
double-click Blank Workbook.
Keyboard shortcut Press CTRL+N
- On the Page Layout tab, in the
Themes group, click Themes.

- To apply a theme to the workbook that every new workbook will use, do one of the following:
- Click the Microsoft Office Button
, point to Save As, and then click Excel Workbook.
- Browse to your XLStart folder, which is located in the directory where Office Excel 2007 or the 2007 Office release is installed (usually C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12), and then in the File name box, do one of the following:
- To create a default workbook, enter book.xltx.
- To create a default worksheet, enter sheet.xltx.
- In the Save as type list, click Excel Template (*.xltx), and then click Save.
Note Any template in the default XLStart folder opens automatically when you start Excel 2007.
Create the default template from an existing workbook
- Click the Microsoft Office Button
, and then click
New.
- Under Templates, click New from existing, and then in the New from Existing Workbook dialog box, browse to the computer, network, or Internet location that contains the workbook that you want to use.
- Click the workbook, and then click Create New.
- On the Page Layout tab, in the
Themes group, click Themes.

- To apply a theme to the workbook that every new workbook will use, do one of the following:
- Click the Microsoft Office Button
, point to Save As, and then click Excel Workbook.
- Browse to your XLStart folder, which is located in the directory where Office Excel 2007 or the
2007 Microsoft Office system is installed (usually C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12), and then in the File name box, do one of the following:
- To create a default workbook, enter book.xltx.
- To create a default worksheet, enter sheet.xltx.
- In the Save as type list, click Excel Template (*.xltx), and then click Save.
Note Any template in the default XLStart folder opens automatically when you start Excel 2007.
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PowerPoint
Note Unlike Word and Excel, PowerPoint includes background style customization options. To add, customize, and format a background style and to use a picture or texture as a slide background, see Add a background to your presentation.
- On the Design tab, in the Themes group, right-click the theme that you want, and then click Set as Default Theme on the shortcut menu.
To view more theme thumbnails, click More
.
Note
For more information about creating custom themes, see Customize a theme in PowerPoint 2007. To apply your custom theme to a presentation, see Apply a theme to your presentation.
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Word
To change the overall look of your Office Word 2007
document, you change both the theme and the style (style: A combination of formatting characteristics, such as font, font size, and indentation, that you name and store as a set. When you apply a style, all of the formatting instructions in that style are applied at one time.) set. You can then set this as the default for all new documents. In Word 2007, the look of a style set is so closely tied to the fonts and colors used in the theme that the theme fonts (theme fonts: A set of major and minor fonts that is applied to a file. Theme fonts, theme colors, and theme effects compose a theme.) and theme colors (theme colors: A set of colors that is used in a file. Theme colors, theme fonts, and theme effects compose a theme.) can be changed both on the Home tab in Change Styles (Styles group), and on the Page Layout tab in the Themes group
where you can also change the entire theme.
- Click the Microsoft Office Button
, and then click New.
- Under Templates, click
Blank and recent, and then under Blank and recent, double-click Blank document.
Keyboard shortcut To open a blank document, press CTRL+N
- On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Change Styles, point to Style Set, and then click the Quick Style set that you want to use.

The gallery of Quick Styles changes to reflect the new Quick Style set.
- Click Change Styles again, point to Colors, and then choose the colors that you want to use.
- Click Change Styles again, point to Fonts, and then choose the fonts that you want to use.
- To adjust the paragraph or line spacing before setting the default theme, see Adjust the spaces between lines or paragraphs.
- Click Change Styles again, and then click Set as Default.
On the Page Layout tab, the buttons in the Themes
group
update to reflect your changes.
Note
Custom themes are available only if you create one or more custom document themes. For more information about creating custom document themes, see Apply or customize a document theme.
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Outlook
To change the overall look of your Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 document, you change both the theme and the style set. You can then set this as the default for all new e-mail messages.
- Click the Tools menu, and then click Options.
- On the Mail Format tab, in the Stationery and Fonts section, click Stationery and Fonts.
- Click Theme.
- Select the theme that you want, and then click OK.
- Click OK.
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