Folder Background colors

I was just also researching this as I just switched over to Windows 10 and have always had a continuous dark theme. The white background of the folders is very harsh, please update the themes to include the body of the folders etc. !!!

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I completely understand the way you feel at the moment. You may try the below suggested steps to change the look of the File explorer.

Are the computers connected to any Domain Network?

Kevin, you can only change the background color of File Explorer to black and the only way to do this is to go to Settings > Personalization > Colors > Under Choose your default app mode, choose Dark. Once you change this setting, you will experience the entire user interface of File Explorer, Context menu, Save and open dialog, Settings application with the blackish color.

If you want to change the background of Outlook, then I suggest you to refer Change the look and feel of Office with themes and check if this helps.

Hope it helps.

Okay, so this is basically the same as high contrast black. You'll have to manipulate the RBG color code in notepad and re-save the theme until you find something to your liking. Tedious and unnecessary if Microsoft would just bring back the folder background color change option.

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for replying and apologize for the late reply since I was researching on your issue.

Please let us know if the computers are connected to any Domain Network?

In order to you to create a custom theme, try the below steps and check if this helps.

Step 1: Open Notepad and copy/paste the following code into the Notepad.

[Theme]

DisplayName=Custom Theme

[Control Panel\Colors]

Background=0 0 0

Window=0 0 0

Menu=0 0 0

InfoWindow=0 0 0

WindowFrame=0 0 0

AppWorkspace=0 0 0

ButtonFace=0 0 0

ButtonHilight=0 0 0

ButtonLight=0 0 0

HilightText=255 255 255

Titletext=255 255 255

WindowText=255 255 255

ButtonText=255 255 255

[Control Panel\Desktop]

TileWallpaper=0

WallpaperStyle=10

[VisualStyles]

Path=%SystemRoot%\resources\themes\Aero\AeroLite.msstyles

ColorStyle=NormalColor

Size=NormalSize

HighContrast=1

[MasterThemeSelector]

MTSM=DABJDKT

Step 2: Once you copy and paste the above command onto the Notepad, click on File > Save as > Give the file name as CustomTheme.theme > Select All Files beside to Save as type.

Step 3: Then, click on Save and double-click on the CustomTheme and apply it.

If you want to revert the theme, then go to Settings > Personalization > Themes and select your previous theme.

Give it a shot and let us know of any changes.

Thank for the suggestions, but no. We have tried this and even tried the high contrast settings. Nothing is working well. The high contrast is not very nice, and can be just as harsh as the white background. We are not wanting a black background with white text as this is harder to read and causes the same eye strain that a white background causes. The 'Dark Mode' only changes the menu bar and not the white page/background of Office and Explorer windows. As with most office and windows users in the corporate world, we have a lot of windows and documents open.  This means that the Office documents and File Explorer windows are the main source of the glaring white screens in workplaces today. I have been trying to find a 3rd party app (Because windows does not have this option) to change these backgrounds, but non of the available programs we have tried work with the 1809 version of Windows 10.

  Is there a recommended app or program that can help with our issue? Even though we do not want extra programs running on our corporate computers, we are open to any suggestions on this as it is affecting our production rates, and causing our employees eye strain, headaches, and such.

Here is an example of what I am talking about: I currently have open, 2 File explorer windows, 2 Word docs, 2 Excel docs, and 3 more remote connection file explorer windows (Our ERP system) open as I type this. Between the 2 monitors I have the amount of white (Even with Dark Mode enabled) is most of my 2 screen.

I hope this helps.