Office for Mac - Saving Custom Color Theme Not Possible

Question

Office for Mac - Saving Custom Color Theme Not Possible

DavidLowis-6050 10

Hello,
I am using Microsoft 365 for Mac (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) and I am unable to create or save a custom theme colour scheme.

When I go to the option to customise theme colours (e.g. Design/Theme Colours – Create/Customise Colours), the dialogue appears and I can select a new colour for a theme slot (for example, “Accent 1”). However, after choosing the colour, I cannot confirm or save the change – there is no “Save”/“OK” button or similar. Keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+S) and pressing Enter do not apply the change either. The only option is to close the dialogue, and the theme colours remain unchanged.

This issue occurs consistently across Word, PowerPoint and Excel, which prevents me from setting any custom colour scheme.

Could you please advise on how to resolve this if it is user error (or whether this is a known issue with the current Mac version of Microsoft 365)?

Thanks!

Screenshot 2026-01-11 at 20.17.06

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4 answers

Answer 1

John Korchok 231.5K Volunteer Moderator

The round color swatches are the normal appearance in PowerPoint 2024 for Mac and PowerPoint 365 for Mac.

The color picker does not require a Save or OK button. Changing a color value in the picker interactively updates the color swatch in the Create Theme Colors dialog.

Your installation appears to be working normally.

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K Reputation points

2026-01-12T18:11:53.18+00:00

One minor discrepancy, John... My screenshot [square swatches] is based on Microsoft 365 Subscription software v16.105 on Sequoia as noted in my message. I haven't a clue why the swatches should be round simply because MS365 is running on Tahoe.
DavidLowis-6050 10 Reputation points

2026-01-12T19:18:24.8533333+00:00

Unfortunately, John, changing the colour value in the picker does not update the colour swatch in the Create Theme Colours dialogue - this is precisely the issue I am experiencing. Since it does not update the colour swatches automatically and there is no way for me to log it, I cannot edit theme colours.
John Korchok 231.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-12T19:37:48.06+00:00

DavidLowis, Sorry, I can't reproduce that problem here under Tahoe. Try creating a new user account (System Settings>Users & Groups), signing in to that, then testing if the problem still exists. If it goes away, it's an issue with the user profile part of your Office installation.
DavidLowis-6050 10 Reputation points

2026-01-13T15:20:59.0933333+00:00

Dear John, I have done this, to no avail, and also tried the same workflow on my partner's Office 365 (also Mac, same versions of OS and Office) - again, same problem unfortunately.
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K Reputation points

2026-01-13T16:20:53.15+00:00

As an additional diagnostic step, start the Mac in Safe Mode to see whether the issue continues when you run PowerPoint.
John Korchok 231.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-13T19:15:06.1533333+00:00

I updated Tahoe to 26.2 and Office to 16.105 26011018) and am still not able to reproduce the problem. Please try Bob's suggestion of restarting in Safe Mode.

Answer 2

John Korchok 231.5K Volunteer Moderator

In Office for Mac, you can only create a custom color theme in PowerPoint.

I'm afraid I don't understand your issue in paragraph 2 about not having a Save button. The Save button is visible in your screen shot. Do you mean that the Save button does not respond?

DavidLowis-6050 10 Reputation points

2026-01-12T04:53:44.2466667+00:00

Thanks – the Save button only exists in the “Create theme colours” window. When I try to edit a colour, the colour picker opens (on the right in my screenshot), but there’s no option to save or record the values from that picker.

If I adjust a colour in the picker, I can’t transfer that updated colour back into the window on the left. As a result, the Save button in “Create theme colours” isn’t useful, because I’m unable to apply any colour changes in the first place before saving.

Answer 3

Viktor 0

I am on Version 16.105.2 (26012530), macOS 15.7.3 and it does not work as well

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K Reputation points

2026-02-08T14:39:02.4933333+00:00

@viktor

Then your issue is decidedly different. Posting here may never be seen & can cause confusion. Submit a new message stating all particulars & exact steps you're taking. An clear, detailed explanation of does not work would be helpful.

Answer 4

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K

Please provide the present Version Numbers of both Mac Office & the release of macOS you're using.

Note the difference between the round color swatches in your Create Theme Colors dialog & the square ones in what I have:

User's image

When I select a color in the Color Picker the corresponding swatch automatically changes.

I'm running Office 16.105 on Sequoia (15.7.3).

DavidLowis-6050 10 Reputation points

2026-01-12T04:55:23.2466667+00:00

Hi - I am working in Tahoe 26.2. In PowerPoint, I am working in Version 16.104.1 (26010228) (Office 365).
DavidLowis-6050 10 Reputation points

2026-01-12T04:57:05.09+00:00

What happens for you when you try to set a new colour? Is there an "OK" button or similar that lets you log that colour?

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Office for Mac - Saving Custom Color Theme Not Possible

4 answers