Changing default chart color layout

Excel Tip #010

Changing default chart color layout

Whenever we want to use the chart series, Excel comes up with certain default colors to beautify the charts. It is high time we should know to change the default color layout and below is the same.

To change the colors of the current workbook:

1. On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Theme Colors

   

   Theme Colors under Page Layout tab

2. Click Customize Colors

   

   Customize Colors option

3. In the Create New Theme Colors dialog box, under Theme colors, click the button of the theme color element that you want to change
4. Under Theme Colors, select the colors that you want to use

   

   Choosing colors for the new theme
5. In the Create New Theme Colors dialog box, under Sample, you can see the effect of the changes that you make
6. Repeat step 3 and 4 for all of the theme color elements that you want to change
7. In the Name box, type an appropriate name for the new theme colors
8. Click Save

To revert all theme color elements to their original theme colors, you can click Reset before saving

To change the colors in all workbooks:

If you would like to make these color changes apply to all new workbooks that you create, you need to create a default workbook template.

1. On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click Themes
2. Click Save Current Theme

   

   Saving the current theme

3. In the File Name box, type an appropriate name for the theme
4. On the File tab, choose Save As
5. In the Save Current Theme dialog box, was selected Office Theme (*.thmx) and choose the Document Themes folder as the location. You can use your own filename instead of proposed Theme1.thmx
6. Click Save

The location of the Document Themes folder may vary, but it is usually located here:

C:\Users\***\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Document Themes

Now you have the prepared Theme1 as the default color layout in all your workbooks.