Get started with themes
In Windows, you can use themes to help make your desktop feel a little more like your own. Themes change the desktop background, window border color, sounds, and screen saver on your PC all at once, and you can switch between themes as often as you like. You can also create your own themes, and share them with friends and family.
What's a theme?
A theme is a combination of pictures, colors, and sounds. Themes include:
Parts of a theme
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A desktop background. A picture, color, or design that acts as a backdrop to the open windows on your desktop. The desktop background can be a single picture or a slide show. You can choose from the desktop background pictures that come with Windows, or you can use your own pictures.
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A window border color. The color of your window borders and taskbar. A theme can include one specific window border color, or a color can be chosen automatically based on the colors in the desktop background picture.
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Sounds. A collection of related sounds that you hear when events happen on your PC. An event can be an action that you do, like signing in to your PC, or something that your PC does, like letting you know when you get a new email.
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A screen saver. A moving picture or pattern that appears on your PC screen when you haven’t used the mouse or keyboard for a certain period of time. The screen saver is turned off in the themes that come with Windows, but you can turn it on and add one to a theme.
You can find all of your themes in Personalization in Control Panel. Tap or click any theme to apply it to your desktop.
Tap or click to open Personalization.
In Personalization in Control Panel, there are four types of themes.
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My Themes. Themes that you've created, made changes to, saved, or downloaded. Any time you change a theme, the new settings appear here as an unsaved theme.
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Windows Default Themes.
Windows themes you can use to personalize your PC. Most of them include a desktop background slide show.
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Installed Themes. Themes that were created by your PC manufacturer or other non-Microsoft providers.
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High Contrast Themes. Themes that make items on your screen easier to see. The High Contrast themes don't include automatic window border colors or desktop background slide shows.
Creating themes
You’re not limited to the themes that come with Windows—you can create customized themes using your own pictures and screen savers, and choose the colors and sounds that go along with them. To get started, tap or click any theme to apply it to your desktop. Then change each part of the theme until the desktop background, window border color, sounds, and screen saver are just how you want them to be. All of your changes will be saved under My Themes as an unsaved theme.
An unsaved theme
To create a theme
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Tap or click to open Personalization.
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To change the desktop background, tap or click Desktop Background, browse to the pictures you want to use, select the check boxes for the pictures that you want to include in your slide show, and then tap or click Save changes.
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To change the color of your window borders and taskbar, tap or click Window Color, and then do one of the following:
Tap or click Automatic to let Windows choose a color automatically based on the colors in your desktop background picture, and then tap or click Save changes.
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Tap or click the color that you want to use, and then tap or click Save changes.
The Automatic window color option
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To change the sounds you hear when something happens on your computer, tap or click Sounds, tap or click an item in the Sound Scheme list, and then tap or click OK.
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To add or change a screen saver, tap or click Screen Saver, tap or click an item in the Screen saver list, change any settings to suit your preference, and then tap or click OK.
Once you're happy with the way your new theme looks and sounds, save it so you can use it any time.
To save a theme
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Tap or click to open Personalization.
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Under My Themes, tap or click your unsaved theme to apply it to the desktop.
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Tap or click Save theme.
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Enter a name for your theme, and then tap or click Save.
The new theme name will appear under My Themes.
Sharing themes
Once you've saved a theme, you can share it with your friends and family. To send your theme to other people, first you'll need to save it in a file format that can be shared, called a .themepack file.
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Tap or click to open Personalization.
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Tap or click your customized theme to apply it to the desktop.
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Press and hold or right-click the theme, and then tap or click Save theme for sharing.
Saving a theme
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In the File name box, enter a name for your theme, and then tap or click Save.
You can share your theme using email, a network, or an external drive.
Deleting themes
If you're no longer using a theme you've created or downloaded, you can delete it from your PC to save on disk space. (The themes that come with Windows can't be deleted.)
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Tap or click a different theme to apply it to the desktop. You can't delete a theme while it's being used.
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Press and hold or right-click the theme that you want to delete, and then tap or click Delete theme.
Get more info about the pictures
If you're curious about the pictures that are included in a particular theme, you can see more info about them, including titles and the locations where the photos were taken. (This info might not be available for some pictures.)
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Tap or click to open Personalization.
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Tap or click a theme to apply it to the desktop, and then tap or click Desktop Background.
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Press and hold or point to a picture to see more info about it.
Note
You can't change the default font or font color used for items in Windows (like window title bars, menus, or tooltips). But you can make all of the text (and other things like icons) on your screen larger, or you can change the text size for specific items without changing the size of anything else on the screen. To learn more, see Make the text on your screen larger or smaller.