Working on Outlook or any other platform, comfort visibility not only turns your work enjoyable but also results in additional outcomes in your workplace.
Selection of numerous options also available for users in every platform, Microsoft Outlook consists of white, black, and grey backgrounds. All of them seem beautiful and the user selects according to their preference.
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What is Outlook Dark Mode?
Outlook Dark mode changes the visibility which is the preferred choice of few users, dark mode changes the high brightness to low which changes the environment of work and easy to concentrate (might be you enjoy dark mode). The dark mode is only available in the new Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 (earlier known as office 365).
Most of the user’s replies ask the question – Is Dark mode better for eyes?. The answer is it depends, some use to work in a dark environment some prefer bright lights while navigating. The choice is yours.
Dark grey and black theme are the two options in Dark mode for 365.
How To Switch Dark Theme Outlook?
By Default Outlook Office theme use system setting which looks the combination of blue and light grey color, Switching to the dark mode, (two options dark grey and black theme) which changes Outlook attire completely.
(image source: codetwo)
Let’s get started to get (step by Step) method to enable dark mode in Microsoft outlook.
- Open Outlook
- Click the ‘File’ menu from the left-hand corner of your screen.
- Hit Office accounts in the sidebar.
- Check Office theme, by default “colorful”, is automated, select dark grey or black theme for dark mode in Outlook.
- Once you select any of the options Dark Grey or Black, Outlook enables dark mode.

The color combination is also attractive, You can also select “Black”, Some users prefer to pour a black theme, Black theme too dark, but no matter what your choice must be.
These theme and background settings affect all Microsoft Office applications on your system, for instance, Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint, Microsoft Word, etc. Working on other platforms with the dark mode is difficult sometimes.
There is another approach to change the theme to dark mode in outlook. Here is the step by step process.
- Click File >> Options
- In the “General Category” >> look for the “Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office” section.
- Find “Office Theme“, and change your desired theme from the drop-down list.
- Finally, Click “OK” to save your changes.
Dark Grey Theme vs Black Theme
Dark Grey Theme & Black Theme both fall in dark mode criteria, the color combination is different Dark grey comes with light grey and dark grey combination bit the email list background is also light grey, which may be comfortable invisibility.
Opening a mail message in the separate window (reading pane) the background convert to white color. [Refer: Image]
Talking about the Black theme popularity known as the dark mode is completely different. Email list, a reading pane, or tab list all are dark black.
Reading Pane in Outlook Dark Mode:
You can turn dark mode on and off when reading a message in Outlook by clicking the icon a the top of your message in the shape of either a sun or moon.
Under black mode Outlook provides an option to change the reading pane background to white and back to black by clicking on the (sun and moon) icon available on the left-hand side.
Outlook Turn Off Dark Mode
The user has to click the moon icon (white background) for every email message in the reading pane. If you like the black theme but don’t want it to change the background of every new and existing message, and you like to keep the white background. You have to disable the (Sun & Moon) option.
- Click File >> Options >> General
- Under “Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office” and then check the box Never change the message background color.
- This option only available for the black theme to disable the changing color of the background.
Once you check the box, any email message in the future, the lights (white background) will remain on as a default setting.
While composing New email message under the dark mode, the background can be changed to bright light and back to dark, from the Message toolbar by selecting the dark mode icon to change the message window to white or black.
How To Turn Dark Mode On or Off in Outlook on the web and Outlook.com?
By default, Outlook.com comes with white and blue color, If you don’t like the default look of your Microsoft Outlook program, you can easily revamp your ordinary-looking Outlook by applying the dark mode offered by Outlook.
Here is the step by step process to activate dark mode in Outlook.com
- Open Outlook.com in your browser
- Click on the Settings (gear icon) option in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Find the Dark mode. To enable this theme, you will just need to toggle the given option.
In this single step, you can enable the dark mode in your Outlook account.
Once you change the dark theme, the reading pane turns black too, there is an option to change the background to white bright by clicking the (Sun and Moon icons) similar to the Outlook application.
This step easily toggle between light and dark (Sun/Moon button).
How To Enable Dark Mode on Android, iPhone & iPad
- Lunch Outlook by clicking on the Outlook icon on your Android, iPhone, or iPad.
- Tap on the gear icon in the bottom-left corner of the interface.
- Clicking on the Settings menu walks you through, few more options, scroll down to the “Preferences” section and click “Appearance”.
- Under appearance change the theme option from “System Default” or “Light” to “Dark”.
- Once you hit dark mode, the whole outlook changes into a black theme.
Microsoft outlook dark theme only available for 365 users, But the black theme that’s been around for years has in fact a very limited use in Outlook. For a few people, dark mode is more comfortable, and some complaining of headaches and eye problems due to the overwhelming bright background.
In this article, every possible step to enable and disable dark mode in Microsoft Outlook is given. Don’t forget to share how you customize outlook today.
Also Read:
- How To Turn off Conversation View in Outlook 365?
- How to change the subject line in Outlook? [of received messages]
- Grammarly For Outlook App/Webmail
- Outlook How to Change Message Preview?
- How To Create & Add Unread Email Folder To Favorites In Outlook 365?
- How to backdate an email in Outlook?
- How To Create Unified Inbox View?