Microsoft Office Apps Now Support Dark Mode on macOS Mojave

[supremedesigner]

Since I can't upgrade on my Mac work machine just yet... is it possible to enable "dark mode" on High Sierra for MS Word? Here's the screenshot of only two options: Colorful and Classic. It would be nice to manually enable Dark Mode in there.

 

[cableguy84]

Dark mode OS wide would be nice

 

[jdclifford]

Stupid Question of the day ... how do I turn it off?

Some of the icons are a matter of taste ... but the key issue is that I need normal mode in Office and Dark on macOS ... and I cannot find the off button!!!

SYSTEM PREFERENCES>GENERAL>APPEARANCE LIGHT
[doublepost=1544636203][/doublepost]

Dark mode OS wide would be nice

SYSTEM PREFERENCES>GENERAL>APPEARANCE DARK

 

[cableguy84]

SYSTEM PREFERENCES>GENERAL>APPEARANCE LIGHT
[doublepost=1544636203][/doublepost]
SYSTEM PREFERENCES>GENERAL>APPEARANCE DARK

Was talking about IOS

 

[bluecoast]

Microsoft can do this with a large Office suite faster than Google cam with a browser. Think about that.

I imagine it’s probably because they’re working out how to not confuse people with incognito (which is half a dark mode) and avoid class action suits etc.

But I take your point.
[doublepost=1544639173][/doublepost]

Outlook is my most used Office app and the white reading pane really ruins the experience IMHO. Given the choice, I'd rather revert back to the previous Outlook colour scheme.

Agreed. Apple mail tends to be like that too though. And of course nearly the entire www.

We need a dark mode css toggle (or something like that) which is then widely supported.
[doublepost=1544639556][/doublepost]Dark mode reminds me of the years 2013-14 when iOS and MacOS switched away from skeumorphism and both OS’s (and apps) were a little inconsistent before things settled down.

I’d imagine that by this time next year iOS and macOS (and the major apps) will support dark mode properly. Even Windows will (where’s Android?).

Until then it’s gonna be a bit funky.

 

[ivanhoe888]

Whoa, Microsoft's dark UI looks better than Apple's. What a...dark time for Apple.

If you only knew the power of the dark side of the Office.

 

[Ankaa]

I wish they had black paper, white text for Outlook. I hate the white background. This is something apple mail got right!

Which doesn't work when incoming mail is put on white background by design, unfortunately. I love dark mode but it makes it extremely inconsistent. The same with many websites....I really wished it was more flexible throughout.
[doublepost=1544642212][/doublepost]

The real dilemma now is that in non-dark mode, MS have introduced hideous title bars with super bright colours and no way to turn that off. Apparently, MS have decided if you don't like dark, you must like screamingly bright colours...

https://imgur.com/qwMv8W4

Which is a major reason for me not to update. I'm already having a hard time adjusting to new GUIs initially coming from 2008 and 2011 for Mac (and decades of older MS Office on Windows) - and I STILL haven't adjusted to the hideous Windows version of MS office.

 

[AppleMad98004]

You can't...MS long ago has taken any decision making capability away from users.

This is Apple's decision.

 

[VictorTango777]

The new "Icons" look beyond ridiculous. Like Microsoft fired all their designers and had some engineers put together some quick vector lines here and there to make icons in a hackathon.
Doesn't look like a production app from a billion dollar company employing 100s of designers. At all.

Microsoft will point to posts like this to "prove" that Mac users only care about superficial cosmetic features and not full feature parity with Windows versions of applications. Even when Microsoft brings new features to Office for Mac and Windows, further inspection shows that the Mac version is not completely on par with Office for Windows. For example, the new "Slide Zoom" feature in Powerpoint - Mac can view but not create Slide Zooms. Not to mention the ongoing missing features in Outlook for Mac compared to Windows.

Mac users have only themselves to blame for compatibility issues and missing features in Office for Mac.

 

[Michael Goff]

Just add the Mac mini to your list, and you complete missing the point completely it is in space grey, and will be updated in 5 years .... support has never been stronger I guess one just needs to get used to the support timelines

The Mac Mini was conceived as a switcher device. In the grid of four, Mac Mini was for the consumer. But I get the point that you can take one piece of information and extrapolate pointlessly with it.

 

[Michael Goff]

Microsoft will point to posts like this to "prove" that Mac users only care about superficial cosmetic features and not full feature parity with Windows versions of applications. Mac users have only themselves to blame for compatibility issues and missing features in Office for Mac.

If you think posts like this aren’t on Windows sites, I have a bridge to sell you.

 

[AppleMad98004]

Stupid Question of the day ... how do I turn it off?

Some of the icons are a matter of taste ... but the key issue is that I need normal mode in Office and Dark on macOS ... and I cannot find the off button!!!

This is not possible.

If you run your machine with the system wide dark mode, ALL apps coded to use it will only show in dark mode and vice versa. You cannot pick and choose apps to run this way no matter what vendor.

 

[Ankaa]

Mac users have only themselves to blame for compatibility issues and missing features in Office for Mac.

I'm pretty sure that's not what's happening and more on MS's side trying to push people to Windows PCs....

 

[Mascots]

This is not possible.

If you run your machine with the system wide dark mode, ALL apps coded to use it will only show in dark mode and vice versa. You cannot pick and choose apps to run this way no matter what vendor.

You can force dark mode on or off by a per-app basis by using terminal but I don't remember the command off the top of my head.

 

[Jayson A]

I guess there's no longer a classic color scheme?? What gives? Any way to get the grey title bars back?

 

[lec0rsaire]

on contrary, even though I paid for Office 365, I use only iWork apps. Pages and Keynote are tremendous pieces of software

I like them as well but I’m so used to Office. Especially Excel. If Excel cost $500 I would still buy it. It’s really robust software with VBA macros.

That said Apple’s suite is a great alternative. I think Keynote has surpassed PowerPoint in many ways. It also offers real time collaboration that the non-365 version of Office doesn’t.

 

[VictorTango777]

I'm pretty sure that's not what's happening and more on MS's side trying to push people to Windows PCs....

Microsoft will claim that they are "following the feedback from Mac users" when prioritizing features. And when a large majority of Mac user feedback revolves around color schemes and pretty icons instead of better feature parity with Windows Office, that only helps Microsoft's argument, regardless of whether you think Microsoft is being disingenuous.

 

[lec0rsaire]

I'm using Word 16.17 (from the Office 365). When I check for updates I'm told it's up to date. I'm wondering why I'm not getting this update?

I don’t know but you can go to here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac. Please backup your machine before updating from here. I have a perpetual license and I don’t know if 365 must be updated inside the apps.

 

[Aston441]

You know, my old Dell XPS M1530 work notebook from three jobs ago, bought back in 2009, still runs the latest versions of Windows 10 and any Linux distribution that I throw at it, including Ubuntu/Xubuntu 18.04. And I bet you could just show Apple the middle finger and install either Windows or Linux on that MacBook Air, too. (My recommendation would be to move on to a flavor of Linux, it's much closer to the good parts of macOS - which would be its Unix foundation.)

I already have win10 on a partition. It runs perfectly and it's faster then macOS.

 

[Michael Goff]

Microsoft will claim that they are "following the feedback from Mac users" when prioritizing features. And when a large majority of Mac user feedback revolves around color schemes and pretty icons instead of better feature parity with Windows Office, that only helps Microsoft's argument, regardless of whether you think Microsoft is being disingenuous.

I don’t think they’re going to Apple fans sites for feedback. They have a feedback feature for that. What you’re saying makes no sense at all.

 

[Spectrum]

Tried Mojave for the first time today. Indeed Dark Mode is as ugly and jarring to use as it looks in the screenshots I'd seen. Some people really have crazy ideas. It is like the dark UI recent Adobe apps. To me it is just not at all helpful to see what your are doing when the working document/canvas is substantially *WHITE*

And the macOS Finder windows look absolutely terrible in Dark mode (to me). As do buttons, text and icons...

All I can say is that I am VERY happy that this is only an option.

 

[B4U]

No, you're not alone. I fully understand why people want the option (and even use it myself in some apps), but not why it's such a big thing in terms of news. It seems any app that needs some publicity just needs to change its background from white to black and >BANG< - it's all over MacRumors. OK, so in this case it's MS Office - but front page news? Saying that, the reaction to these 'dark mode' stories is always overwhelmingly positive, so I guess we're in a minority not understanding why it seems almost as momentous an event as a new iPhone launch.

As this is clearly a big thing for many users, I wonder why so many major developers seem so slow to offer it? Twenty years ago it seemed every app under the sun had a 'themes' or 'skins' option - or were just permanently in dark mode whether you liked it or not!

To me, it is just a different color scheme. Windows had it for ages. (I remember seeing that in Windows 98!)
Still don't see what is the big deal about...
[doublepost=1544660748][/doublepost]

Thanks for this bit of info. I'm resisting O365 for various reasons. I'm (still) on Office 2016. Available Dark Mode might actually be a reason for me to upgrade to 2019 (although I JUST upgraded to 2016 this summer....yes, I'm slow, but I was very reluctant to upgrade Office for some reasons, mostly GUI changes - I'm a person of habit)
[doublepost=1544596036][/doublepost]

I really do hope this will come natively eventually. I mean, NightShift can do it...

I'm using Nightowl. Except for Messges, which apparently doesn't like the change, it works perfectly.
[doublepost=1544596197][/doublepost]

I bit the bullet this summer and upgraded to 2016 (also coming form 2011)....only to have 2019 announced a month later
[doublepost=1544596506][/doublepost]

Now if only websites would do it, too. Reading MacRumors (e.g) in DarkMode is still blinding ... Maybe I'm too "early 2000s", but to me it's surprising how many websites these days choose a extremely white color theme.

My work place got us hooked up for 2016 for $9.99 but I did not need it, considering my iMac will only support all the way to High Sierra and that is the only MS Office which would run in that OS.
Simply no justification to even spend that 10 bucks when everything is working perfectly fine now.

 

[TriBruin]

This is not possible.

If you run your machine with the system wide dark mode, ALL apps coded to use it will only show in dark mode and vice versa. You cannot pick and choose apps to run this way no matter what vendor.

Incorrect. For Office Apps use the following command in the terminal:

defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool yes

You will need to do it for each App (.Word, .Excel, etc.) that you want to turn off dark mode. To switch back to the default, use the following:

defaults delete com.microsoft.Outlook NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Users are confusing dark mode with incognito and perhaps even the dark web. Dark mode is more Apple marketing to justify sky-high prices.

Spoken like a person that doesn't have to work with "media" files all day.
[doublepost=1544662732][/doublepost]

What is this obsession with Dark Mode? It makes fonts and coloured icons look terrible.
Have those arguing that it reduces eye strain, tried to better balance the ambient light and screen brightness?
At home in the evening, I run a retina iMac at only 1-2 notches above minimum brightness.

What are you, a Tarsier?!?

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/animals-that-have-the-best-night-vision.html
[doublepost=1544663173][/doublepost]

(My recommendation would be to move on to a flavor of Linux, it's much closer to the good parts of macOS - which would be its Unix foundation.)

But without the good parts of macOS (polished UI, sound support that isn't just a frustrating joke, good to great WiFi support, real Applications (e.g., Photoshop vs. The Gimp, MS Office vs. LibreOffice, etc.), seamless integration with iOS, WatchOS and TVOS.
[doublepost=1544663336][/doublepost]

That’s why they made the iMac Pro, right, and why they keep updating the MacBook Pro? And it does make sense when you look at Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro X and realize they’ve been updated in the last two months. Yep, totally shafting those pro users.

And that they have been running more "Mac" TV ads than iPhone/iPad ads for the past 2 months (Ever since the Mac event on 10/30).
[doublepost=1544663425][/doublepost]

I downloaded it all excited and.. it's an eyesore. Microsoft, please go back to the drawing board.

The words "Microsoft" and "Tasteful UI" really don't belong in the same document, let alone the same sentence!
[doublepost=1544663837][/doublepost]

Stupid Question of the day ... how do I turn it off?

Some of the icons are a matter of taste ... but the key issue is that I need normal mode in Office and Dark on macOS ... and I cannot find the off button!!!

Sorry, not a "button", but a setting you can do from Terminal:

See:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-on-macos-mojave.2160013/page-5#post-26905246
[doublepost=1544663915][/doublepost]

You can't...MS long ago has taken any decision making capability away from users.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-on-macos-mojave.2160013/page-5#post-26905246
[doublepost=1544664010][/doublepost]

could you plz elaborate?

Which part of "no" was confusing? ;-)
[doublepost=1544664126][/doublepost]

Has anyone found out how to turn 'Dark Mode' off as it makes my outlook look very ghastly?

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-on-macos-mojave.2160013/page-5#post-26905246
[doublepost=1544664200][/doublepost]

Is anyone else frustrated that you can't set dark mode in office/outlook independent of the OS setting? (Unless I've totally missed something)

Didn't really miss anything; but it IS possible:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-on-macos-mojave.2160013/page-5#post-26905246
[doublepost=1544664329][/doublepost]

This is not possible.

If you run your machine with the system wide dark mode, ALL apps coded to use it will only show in dark mode and vice versa. You cannot pick and choose apps to run this way no matter what vendor.

Untrue:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-on-macos-mojave.2160013/page-5#post-26905246

 

[BeatCrazy]

I updated today.. I do like all the new icons, very clean looking!

I tried, for the 3rd time, to really use and accept Dark Mode. Can't do it. Maybe it's just too much effort for my brain, but it just doesn't look natural to me. I use relatively low brightness all the time. It just feels like Dark Mode doesn't have enough contrast for me to quickly ID actions in the ribbon, Finder, etc.