How to Get Blue Toolbar Color Back in Microsoft Office 2003 While Using 3rd Party Themes in Windows XP?
Most of us use custom 3rd party themes in Windows XP to change its look. But if you also use Office 2003 in Windows XP, you might have noticed that these custom themes remove the default blue toolbar color in Office 2003 applications and you get the classic grey color instead.
This tutorial will help you in getting back the blue toolbar back in Office 2003 under Windows XP:
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PROBLEM REASON:
Actually Office 2003 checks whether you are using default “Luna” theme or not. If it finds that you are using any other theme, it starts showing the ugly classic toolbar.
PROBLEM SOLUTION:
The only work around for this problem is to rename your 3rd party windows theme’s msstyles file to “luna.msstyles“, e.g., if you are using our “VistaVG” theme, then just rename the “VistaVG.msstyles” to “luna.msstyles“. That’s it.
The .msstyles file can be found in “Windows\Resources\Themes\custom_theme_name\” folder.
For WindowBlinds users, open “%windir%\wb.ini” file and add MakeOfficeBlue=1 in [global] section. You can change 1 to 2 or 3 to change the color to Green and Silver respectively.
I’m running Windows 8 and I wish for the opposite effect and more for my MS Office 2003. I want it to be able to change colors automatically with Aero’s title border. It did this fine under XP.
I’m also running Windows 8 and wish to change my MS Office 2003 back to the Classic grey I had under XP. The bright blue toolbars and menu bars are driving me nuts.
Hello,
I am getting a gray toolbar color in Microsoft Office 2003 even though Windows Aero is active. Based on screenshots and other information my toolbars and other user interface elements should be the default blue.
Any assistance from you would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
^^ You are getting the right color. Blue color was displayed in Windows XP.
^^ VG, thank you for responding.
I do not understand this, though. The operating system is Windows Vista and in all of the screenshots I have seen it is blue when Windows Aero is active. When I had originally had it installed on Windows 10 it was blue as well.
I do not know what to do.
^^ Try to re-apply default Aero theme.
^^ VG, thank you once again for your assistance.
I re-applied the default Windows Aero theme and the theme for Office 2003 is unfortunately still white. I have done a repair install of the suite, run CHKDSK, and sfc /scannow and no errors have been reported.
I have enclosed a screenshot of its appearance here: i.imgur.com/rqYabEl.png
^^ As far as I know thats the default color of toolbar in Windows Vista and later.
^^ VG, thank you again!
I am very happy to say that I finally have the blue toolbar color of Microsoft Office 2003 in Windows Vista. The issue where the toolbars and other user interface elements were white apparently stemmed from a glitch. I had to run one Office program in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2 in the compatibility tab of the Properties dialog box (enabling the Disable Visual Themes feature had no effect).
After launching the program once, the toolbars for each program are now blue. Disabling compatibility mode—and launching the programs between operating system restarts—does not turn the toolbars back to white. In other words, compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2 can be disabled without affecting the blue color.
That compatibility mode was not enabled in other programs—yet they still appeared blue—suggests that this is a glitch. Additionally, even when compatibility mode is disabled after being enabled, the blue color remains, lending further credence to the idea that the issue is due to a glitch.
I have enclosed a screenshot of the blue interface: i.imgur.com/waMkcqV.png
I am sorry that this post was excessively detailed, but I thought it might help other users who might experience the same issue. Thank you very much for all of your assistance!!!
^^ I’m glad that you solved the issue. I’m sure it’ll help other readers too.
For the opposite effect, name your luna.msstyles file or Royale.msstyles or whatever to something different (example = OfficeWhiteToolbar.msstyles) If there are two theme folders and if you are unsure which, name both. If you think you are sure which but it doesn’t work, name both.
It’s possible to back to gray/silver with Office 2003 toolbars on Window 10 and with full Areo theme? When I change to theme based on areolite.msstyles, then is gray, but when change to theme based on areo.msstyles, then toolbars are blue. It’s impossible to change name (Windows 10 looks like ignore msstyles with changed name) or install some from old system.