Personalize the Visual Studio IDE and the editor

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac Visual Studio Code

This article shows you how to change the color theme in the Visual Studio IDE, and how to change the font colors in the editor.

Tip

If you haven't already installed Visual Studio, go to the Visual Studio downloads page to install it for free.

Set the color theme for the IDE

The default color theme for the Visual Studio user interface is Dark. Here's how to change it to a different color theme.

1. On the menu bar, select Tools > Options.

2. In the options list, select Environment > General.

3. In the Color theme list, choose between the Blue theme, the Blue (Extra Contrast) theme, the default Dark theme, and the Light theme. Or, choose the Use system setting option to select the theme that Windows uses.

   

   Note

   When you change a color theme, text in the IDE reverts to the default or previously customized fonts and sizes for that theme.

   Tip

   Want even more themes to choose from? Check out the wide range of custom themes on the Visual Studio Marketplace. And to see examples of new Visual Studio 2022 custom themes based on VS Code, take a look at the Introducing a collection of new Visual Studio themes blog post.

Change text colors in the editor

Here's how to customize some text colors for the editor.

First, create a new XML file to see the default colors:

1. From the menu bar, choose File > New > File.

2. In the New File dialog box, under the General category, choose XML File, and then choose Open.

3. Paste the following XML below the line that contains <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>.

   <Catalog>
     <Book id="bk101">
     <Author>Garghentini, Davide</Author>
     <Title>XML Developer's Guide</Title>
     <Genre>Computer</Genre>
     <Price>44.95</Price>
     <PublishDate>2000-10-01</PublishDate>
     <Description>
       An in-depth look at creating applications with XML.
     </Description>
   </Book>
   <Book id="bk102">
     <Author>Garcia, Debra</Author>
     <Title>Midnight Rain</Title>
     <Genre>Fantasy</Genre>
     <Price>5.95</Price>
     <PublishDate>2000-12-16</PublishDate>
     <Description>
       A former architect battles corporate zombies, an evil
       sorceress, and her own childhood to become queen of the world.
     </Description>
   </Book>
   </Catalog>
   

   Notice that the line numbers are a turquoise-blue color, and the XML attributes (such as id="bk101") are a light blue color.

   

Next, change the text color for these items:

1. To open the Options dialog box, choose Tools > Options from the menu bar.

2. Under Environment, choose the Fonts and Colors category.

   Notice that the text under Show settings for says Text Editor. You can expand the drop-down list to see the extensive list of places where you can customize the fonts and text color.

3. To change the color of the line numbers text, in the Display items list, choose Line Number. In the Item foreground box, choose Olive.

   

   Some languages have their own specific fonts and colors settings. If you're a C++ developer and you want to change the color used for functions, for example, you can look for C++ Functions in the Display items list.

4. Before you exit out of the dialog box, you can also change the color of XML attributes. In the Display items list, scroll down to XML Attribute and select it. In the Item foreground box, choose Lime. Choose OK to save the selections and close the dialog box.

   The line numbers are now an olive color, and the XML attributes are a bright, lime green. If you open another file type, such as a C++ or C# code file, the line numbers also appear in the olive color.

   

Next steps

Explore the other customization options in the Fonts and Colors > Options dialog box to truly make Visual Studio your own.

Tip

Looking for info on how to download VS Code color themes and then import them into Visual Studio? Check out the Introducing a Collection of New Visual Studio Themes blog post for all the details.

Related content

• Change fonts, colors, and themes in Visual Studio
• Change text case in the editor
• Customize window layouts and personalize tabs