How do I change the default hyperlink color in Word back to bright blue?

Question

My current version of Word displays hyperlinks in a grayish-blue-green font color instead of the traditional bright blue. I want to change the default hyperlink color to that old-school blue. I can change it one entry at a time, but it always reverts to the grayish-blue-green color. Have searched many Q&A entries, been offered solution that are either technical complex (beyond my user level) or refer to tab that I do not have. Any simple way to do this? (And, yes, I've tried modifying the Normal text style - can't find any option for changing the Hyperlink color.)

Answer 1

Hi @Michael Arrowood,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for contacting us. Please follow the steps below to change the color of hyperlinks in Word:

Step 1: Click Design

Step 2: Click Colors > Customize Colors

Step 3: Click Hyperlink and select the color you want

Step 4: Click Save

Step 5: Go back to Colors in Design as in Step 2 and select the custom color scheme you just created

After completing these steps, the hyperlink color will display as you wish.

If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to share them with me. I will be happy to assist you.

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Answer 2

To change the default hyperlink color in Word, you typically need to modify the theme colors or styles used in your document. Here’s a simple way to do it:

1. Open your Word document.
2. Go to the "Design" tab on the ribbon.
3. Click on "Colors" in the Document Formatting group.
4. Select "Customize Colors" at the bottom of the dropdown.
5. In the dialog that appears, look for the "Hyperlink" and "Followed Hyperlink" options. You can change these to your preferred shade of blue.
6. After making your changes, give your new color scheme a name and click "Save".
7. Your hyperlinks should now display in the color you selected.

If this method does not work or if the color keeps reverting, ensure that you are not overriding the hyperlink color in the styles or that there are no conflicting settings in your Word options.

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References:

• Options.DefaultHighlightColorIndex Property

Answer 3

For more on Themes and Theme Colors in Word, see:

• https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm#Themes
• https://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2015/05/xml-hacking-color-themes/
• https://addbalance.com/articles/[Quick]%20Style%20Sets%20and%20Word%20Themes%20in%20Microsoft%20Word.htm

I am confident that Theme Colors is the source of your problem. You would want to save these to a new Theme and make that Theme the source in your templates.

However, it may be that you do not want to change those Theme colors for some reason. In that case, you would need to modify the colors in both the Hyperlink and Followed Hyperlink character styles in Word and save those modifications to your template. You would be saving to standard colors rather than Theme Colors.

If you want someone here to look at a sample document displaying the problem, you can save such a sample to OneDrive or DropBox (not SharePoint) and post a share link here. https://addbalance.com/articles/Why%20a%20sample%20file%20is%20important%20for%20troubleshooting.%20How%20to%20do%20it.htm

Answer 4

As Charles suggested, the quickest fix is to modify the Hyperlink and FollowedHyperlink styles in your Word document. In the Apply Styles pane (Ctrl+Shift+S), type in a style name and click Modify. In the dialog box, make the desired changes. To copy the new settings to your template, select "New documents based on this template" before you confirm with OK. Later, if/when you are prompted to save the Normal template, choose to do so.