customize the color palatte in Word and Excel 2007

[Jennifer]

The color palatte in Office 2007 is frustrating because it is limiting the
colors to the base 8 in a theme. I would like the color palatte to display a
variety of colors to choose from so I don't have to keep changing the theme
just to pick the standard colors I want to use for all my files. How can I
create a fully customized palatte of 56 colors of my own choosing (not an 8
color theme)? What I need is something like the color palatte from Office
2003, which offered different colors in one click availability.

Thanks!

 

[Bob I]

Try clicking "Create new theme colors" You can do what ever color you want.

 

[Jennifer]

Thanks Bob. What I see when I do that is just 10 color slots (hyperlinks
don't count since they don't display as color choices on the palette) to
customize. I do not see a way to define all 56 slots in the palette. If I set
the 10 colors, then the 56 full palette is automatically generated somehow as
shades of those 10.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Jennifer,

In prior versions Excel's color palette system was different from the one in Word. Word's allowed you to add 8 custom colors to the
pallette of 35 (plus white and 4 grey scale choices), but you could use any variation from the overall 16million variants within the
document.

Excel allowed you to create a specific 'standard' palette set for a workbook, that defined the limited you to 56 colors (of which 16
are chart related). For older .xls workbooks that choice is still available in Excel, it's in the Excel Options dialog
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/288412 and maps the themes to files opened in previous Excel versions or if you save in .XLS format.

For Office 2007 there is a new graphics engine that switched to the Theme based set, for consistency of message and appearance (to
some extent as Word doesn't have the full tool set for themes in play). The themes have base colors and a predefined variation set
of each color.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101786241033.aspx
You get some increased features that can be used in multiple apps, but do give up some of the old features when using them.

You can use the Format Painter to copy colors from a palette in a custom XLS book (see the answer to the followup question)
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Excel-1059/Excel-2007-color-palette-1.htm
or use a 3rd party add-in for colors that may make things a bit easier to manage such as
http://jabsoft.com/color_palette_for_excel/color_palette_for_excel.htm
The Excel palette tool from J. Knutsson lets you sort of combine the above two approaches.
http://www.bloggpro.com/add-new-colors-to-the-default-excel-palette

In the Office 2007 fill palette choices the 'More Colors' link still brings up the prior version color picker.

You may also want to post in the Excel discussion group (link below) for other ideas on customizing in Excel 2007.

============
Thanks Bob. What I see when I do that is just 10 color slots (hyperlinks
don't count since they don't display as color choices on the palette) to
customize. I do not see a way to define all 56 slots in the palette. If I set
the 10 colors, then the 56 full palette is automatically generated somehow as
shades of those 10. <<
--
Please let us know if this has helped,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

LINKS
A. Specific newsgroup/discussion group mentioned in this message:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.excel
or via browser:
http://microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/?dg=microsoft.public.excel

B. MS Office Community discussion/newsgroups via Web Browser
http://microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx
or
Microsoft hosted newsgroups via Outlook Express/newsreader
news://msnews.microsoft.com

 

[Jennifer]

Thanks for these resources Bob! I am a bit disappointed that MS doesn't
provide the flexibility in the app itself. I feel it is somewhat
short-sighted to design the ribbon so well yet hamper the ability to
customize it according to need. The Theme concept is excellent and extremely
useful, but "forcing" it seems to go too far, especially when so much has
been invested by customers in development of styles/themes within the context
of the prior versions and those cannot now be brought forward.

You've given me tools to work on making that migration - thanks for your help!