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Outlook Classic (ARM) Dark Grey Theme has bright white reading pane

Anonymous
2024-08-03T13:54:38+00:00

When I use the Dark Grey theme in Outlook Classic on my new Surface Laptop 7 machine, the reading pane shows as bright white (Screenshot Below).

Current Windows version is Windows 11 Home Version 24H2. Windows theme is set to Dark.

I have tried adjusting the theme settings, restarting the machine and outlook, etc. Light and Dark modes in outlook seem to be working fine, but on other outlook versions/machines, the Dark Grey theme would produce a grey reading pane for messages instead of the bright white version currently showing.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Hal Hostetler MVP-Outlook 11,901 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-08-04T00:58:31+00:00

    Currently, the only way to get Classic Outlook's Reading Pane to be anything but while is to set Options > General > Office Theme to be either Black or Use System Settings with your Windows System theme set to Dark. So far, Outlook New behaves the same way.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-08-05T16:02:22+00:00

    Thank you for confirming.

    I did check a few more machines and versions, and it looks like a white reading pane with the Dark Grey theme is indeed expected behavior.

    I could have sworn it used to adjust the color, but I think I was mistaken. For what it's worth, I would LOVE to see the reading pane be a grey color.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-08-03T22:12:55+00:00

    Well I have to say, I may have been mistaken when I said a previous version had the reading pane in a different color.

    I booted up my old machine that I thought had the reading pane in a gray color, but it is currently white as well. So either I am misremembering, or it turned white when it updated, at some point.

    My current machine is running this version

    Microsoft® Outlook® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2407 Build 16.0.17830.20138) 64-bit

    My old machine is running this version

    Microsoft® Outlook® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2405 Build 16.0.17628.20006) 64-bit

    The reading pane is bright white in both versions.

    EDIT: I will check on the machines of some of my employees on Monday

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-08-03T20:15:41+00:00

    Dear Stephen K89,

    Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community.

    I have been testing your query from my side and experiencing same behavior. Typically, dark grey theme doesn't have any outlook setting to particularly change the color of the reading pane in outlook app at the moment. However, to reproduce the issue from my side and provide if there are any workarounds, Could you please provide me your Outlook version details and the outlook version detail that this feature is working fine? See What version of Outlook do I have? - Microsoft Support

    For additional information, see Change the look and feel of Microsoft 365 - Microsoft Support

    I look forward to your response,

    Thank you for your precious time. Have a nice day.  Sincerely,Libeamlak | Microsoft Community Moderator

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