Excel theme generator

An Excel theme is a set of 12 colors, a heading font, a body font and shape effects that a workbook uses for its cells, tables, charts and shapes. Change the theme and everything that uses theme colors and fonts updates at once.

In Excel, set the colors under Page Layout › Colors › Customize Colors, set the fonts under Page Layout › Fonts › Customize Fonts, and save them with Page Layout › Themes › Save Current Theme. The pwrtheme Excel theme generator does the same on a live workbook, adds cell styles and a table style, and gives you the finished Excel template to download.

Excel has no Set as Default button for themes. Instead, save a workbook that uses the theme as a template named Book.xltx in Excel's startup folder and restart Excel. If your Excel isn't in English, use the name it gives a blank workbook: a blank workbook called Bok1 in Norwegian Excel means the template must be Bok.xltx. New workbooks you create with Ctrl+N (Cmd+N on a Mac) then start from that template. The Excel template from pwrtheme is ready for this and also carries your cell styles and table style.

On Windows it is usually C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART. AppData is hidden in File Explorer by default, so the quickest way there is to press Windows + R, type %appdata%\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART and press Enter. Excel lists the exact path under File › Options › Trust Center › Trust Center Settings › Trusted Locations. On a Mac, the startup folder is ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Startup.localized/Excel. Library is hidden in Finder too; press Cmd+Shift+G in a save dialog and paste the path.

Check three things. First, the name: it has to match what your Excel calls a blank workbook, so Book.xltx in English Excel but Bok.xltx in Norwegian Excel, where a blank workbook is called Bok1. Second, the folder: the file must be in Excel's startup folder, and Excel must be restarted. Third, how you open the workbook: the Blank workbook button on Excel's Start screen can skip your template, while Ctrl+N (Cmd+N on a Mac) uses it. To get your template every time Excel starts, turn the Start screen off under File › Options › General, or clear Show Workbook Gallery when opening Excel under Excel › Preferences › General on a Mac.

For your own computer, choose File › Options › General on Windows, or Excel › Preferences › General on a Mac, pick the default font and size, and restart Excel. To give other people the same default font, put it in a template: the body font of a theme is the font every cell starts in, so a Book.xltx template with your body font gives every new workbook that font.

Yes. Right-click a style in the Table Styles gallery and choose Set As Default, and new tables in that workbook use it. The Excel template from pwrtheme already has your custom table style set as the default, so every new table starts with it.

A chart template stores a chart's formatting: background, border, title, gridlines, labels, legend and series colors. In Excel you pick it when you insert a chart, from the Templates folder of the chart gallery. The pwrtheme Excel theme generator makes chart templates for column, bar, line and pie charts.

Copy the .crtx file into Excel's chart templates folder: on Windows press Windows + R and open %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates\Charts, on a Mac use ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Chart Templates.localized. Then select your data and pick the template: on Windows under Insert › Recommended Charts › All Charts › Templates, on a Mac under Insert › Chart › Templates.

Charts inserted the usual way take their colors from the workbook's theme: Accent 1 to 6 for the series, Background 1 for the chart background and Text 1 for text and lines. So changing the theme colors changes the chart colors. To change more than the colors, such as gridlines, labels or the legend, use a chart template. Chart templates saved from Excel keep the colors they were saved with, but the ones from pwrtheme follow the workbook's theme.

Excel doesn't embed fonts in a workbook. If a theme font isn't installed, Excel shows a substitute font instead. Pick fonts that everyone has: the Aptos fonts download automatically with Microsoft 365, while some Windows fonts, such as Segoe UI, may be missing on a Mac.

You can preview and customize before signing in. An account is required to download; downloads are currently included with your account. The templates work in Excel for Windows and Excel for Mac.