How to change the theme of Office 2013

The only comfort I get from this is knowing that I didn't spend a lot of money on this product only to be stuck with an unusable set of theme choices.  I read everyones posts to this point and have not found one positive response to the "look and feel" of this product.

If MS is really "actively collectiong, sorting and reading through feedback", then it should be fairly obvious to them by now that whoever made the choice of these themes should be fired.

My install left the entire 2010 suite behind, so I will be using it at least until MS can get thier act together and get a Service pack released with themes that actually don't offend.

I have to say that I like a lot of the features this release has to offer, and I will be keeping the install so I can use some of those features, but until the visibility issue is cleared up, Office 2010 will be my default.

These comments are also being forwarded back to my IT department so my company won't have to make the same mistakes so many others have obviously already made.

Thank you for the feedback on Office’s new look. We are actively collecting, sorting and reading through feedback on Office 2013’s design and User Experience. As the audience for Office 2013 grows, we are being mindful of patterns and pain points that emerge from user feedback. While we do not have any additional Themes planned at this time, it is an issue we are watching very closely.

You need to begin planning additional themes now and not wait for more patterns and pain points to emerge.  This is a HUGE pain point for most everyone that has installed Office 2013.   Best advice: quit watching and start doing.

Don't want to repeat what everyone else has said, but I concur a zillion percent. My issue is that not only are these color options crappy, but it's a brand new computer. I have no option to roll back to a previous version of Office. Adding to the problem is that apparently these new-fangled touch-screens designed to work with Windows 8 have EXTREME glare. I assume most people have a window in the room where their computer is located. I can see every single blade of grass in the reflection on my screen. My desk is a huge hunk of cherry wood, and I'd have to pay someone to move it so that my computer screen wouldn't receive the window glare. Gee, it would be so much easier if I could adjust the colors of Microsoft Office to compensate for the glare! You know, that very basic thing that Microsoft should have never considered taking away from its customers and shouldn't be thinking twice about rolling out immediately!

Sorry to jump on the band wagon, but having just installed Office Professional 2013 without first reading this thread, I feel a complete clown.

Not only can I not choose a decent theme to offset the blandness of the screen, but I notice that the normal windows 7 frames are not used either. Like many others I intend to re-install Office 2010 and put 2013 on the shelf until something is done to improve the look of this product. I spend many hours working in front of my Pc and most of these are with Office products. I've never before had cause to complain about what appears to be a trivial thing, but the type face and general appearance of this product reminds me of Windows 95 products, not what I would have expected for 2013. I have wasted a lot of money on this product and I and not at all amused.

Please sort this out asap.

I'm one of those users who likes to change the theme on a fairly regular basis (my window colors are set to follow my randomly-cycling wallpaper, and so is Trillian).  However, I find it difficult to freshen things up in Office 2013 with the new choices.  There's simply not enough contrast between elements in the White theme, and not enough contrast between active buttons and the background in the Dark Gray theme.  This means I spend all my time in the least of three evils: Light Gray.

Why not roll out with a few new themes for us, eh?  Like maybe one that uses a lighter shade of the app color as the base (so a light slate for Word, a light green for Excel, a light teal for Publisher, etc.), or even Blue and Black options like in 2010, or one that at least sorta follows our Windows color?  Then we'll not only have an option that helps reduce eye strain, but ones that make the apps appealing to use again.