How-To

How to Change the New Outlook App Theme

By Brian Burgess

Updated April 22, 2024

A new Outlook app combines the Mail and Calendar apps and has new customization options to change the new Outlook app theme.

Microsoft is rolling out the new version of Outlook for Windows. The new experience is like Outlook on the web and includes new features. In addition, it marries the Calendar and Mail apps and allows you to change the new Outlook app theme.

The new Outlook also includes better support for third-party email services like email apps like Gmail and has an offline support feature. It also contains several new themes you can enable to customize the look and feel.

The color schemes also include Dark mode and classic blue to match Windows’ default color. So, here’s how to change the new Outlook theme.

How to Change the New Outlook App Theme on Windows

Changing the theme to something more personable with the new Outlook app is straightforward.

How to Switch to the New Outlook App

You first need to enable the new Outlook on your PC, which is an improved visual overhaul. Once you have the latest Outlook running, you can change the theme for Mail and Calendar.

1. Press the Windows key and launch the Mail app on your Windows PC.
2. Click the Try the new Outlook toggle switch to enable it.
3. The Mail app will close and restart as the new Outlook app.
4. Work through the initial setup screens, where you’ll be signed in automatically.
5. Set the option to share app usage to No, don’t send optional data if you don’t want to send it to Microsoft, and click Accept.
6. Click Open Outlook.

How to Change the New Outlook App Theme

Now that you have the new Outlook app up and running, you’ll have the new experience on your PC. Now, you can check out the themes available for it, which include over 50 different theme variations.

To Change Themes in the New Outlook App

1. Launch the new Outlook app on your Windows 11 PC.
2. Click Settings in the top right bar.
3. Under the Theme section, select a new theme that matches your current Windows color scheme.
4. To find more options, click View all under the front-facing themes.
5. All of the themes available for the new Outlook app will be displayed. To make navigating them easier, hovering over each one will show its name.
6. To get the right combination of colors, you can enable Dark mode and sample each theme until you find the best combination for you.

Once you select the theme and mode color combination, the new Outlook app will launch to your chosen color scheme and theme. Also, Outlook and Calendar are merged in the same app, so the color changes for Mail and Calendar views.

Customize Outlook Color and Theme

If you want to add flair to the new Outlook app, Microsoft includes many more options than the old Mail app. And since it now integrates the Calendar app, you only need to change the theme once to affect both experiences.

Note that if you install Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), you will have two versions of Outlook — one is the new app as described in this article and the other is Outlook proper that includes even more functionality.