Adding more colors to a PPT theme than the default 6 accent colors

Question

Howdy! I have seen Q/As on here regarding hacking the XML theme code to add extra custom colors beyond the 6 accent colors PPT provides. @John Korchok has provided excellent 'how-to' answers but I don't have access to an actual hacked xml file that has custom colors added that I can just edit with my colors using one of his methods. I am not an XML programmer but I have a lot of experience creating templates/themes and working with PPT. I have confidence I can follow John's method and just change the RGB values as needed for my client's brand palette. I just need an example to work from. Anyone have an example I can work off of?

I am using MacOS Catalina and Office 365

Thank you!

Answer 1

Thanks for your kind words. The custom color article includes a sample XML listing that you can copy and paste (the one with the grey background).

Unfortunately, the new editor on this forum has broken the ability to post XML in these messages. Current versions of PowerPoint will have a <a:extraClrSchemeLst/> part followed by a <a:extLst> part. Paste the custom color listing between those, then revise with hexadecimal color values.

Answer 2

>> Unfortunately, the new editor on this forum has broken the ability to post XML in these messages.

I ran into the same thing trying to post a longish chunk of VBA code. What worked was to copy/paste the code to Word, then copy/paste from Word into the editor here.

Answer 3

Thanks so much, John! I got the sample XML from your webpage. I'll give it a try.

Answer 4

Hi John,

So I tried to follow along and use the XML code you provided on your website to expand the custom color list. I downloaded BBEdit for Mac to edit the XML file. I thought I'd done things correctly (insert eye roll) but when I copy the XML file to my Theme Colors folder and go back to PPT the theme doesn't show up. The file size is only 2 kb so I'm sure I've not done something correctly. Any suggestions?

I used Steve R's method of copying to/from Word to paste the code below. Hope that is cool.

Many thanks for any help!
Steve

xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<a:clrScheme xmlns:a="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/main" name="MMRF Theme_extended"><a:dk1><a:srgbClr val="000000"/></a:dk1><a:lt1><a:srgbClr val="FFFFFF"/></a:lt1><a:dk2><a:srgbClr val="20313B"/></a:dk2><a:lt2><a:srgbClr val="F4F3F1"/></a:lt2><a:accent1><a:srgbClr val="8B0053"/></a:accent1><a:accent2><a:srgbClr val="20313B"/></a:accent2><a:accent3><a:srgbClr val="FFD4B6"/></a:accent3><a:accent4><a:srgbClr val="F58EB3"/></a:accent4><a:accent5><a:srgbClr val="FCA88D"/></a:accent5><a:accent6><a:srgbClr val="FFE1CC"/></a:accent6><a:hlink><a:srgbClr val="B93004"/></a:hlink><a:folHlink><a:srgbClr

val="D85931"/></a:folHlink></a:clrScheme>

<a:extraClrSchemeLst/>

<a:custClrLst>

  <a:custClr name="Plum">

    <a:srgbClr val="8B0053"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Sand">

    <a:srgbClr val="FFD4B6"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Platinum">

    <a:srgbClr val="F4F3F1"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Tyrian Purple">

    <a:srgbClr val="60023E"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Blush">

    <a:srgbClr val="F58EB3"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Apricot">

    <a:srgbClr val="FCA88D"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Seashell">

    <a:srgbClr val="FFE1CC"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Gunmetal">

    <a:srgbClr val="20313B"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Light Gray">

    <a:srgbClr val="AFBBC3"/>

  </a:custClr>

  <a:custClr name="Rust">

    <a:srgbClr val="B93004"/>

  </a:custClr>

</a:custClrLst>

<a:extLst>

Answer 5

As noted in the article:

"I should also clarify: a Color Theme or a Font Theme are only sub-parts of a Theme as saved by PowerPoint. A PowerPoint Theme file contains the entire presentation, including masters, layouts, and full theme files. It’s this full theme file that we need to edit. Custom Colors never appear in a Color Theme file."

You need to choose File>Save as and save the presentation as a theme (.thmx). Then edit that file to add the custom colors.