Has anyone noticed that Themes are now missing?

Anonymous
2014-11-18T20:50:13+00:00

Has anyone noticed that themes disappeared from all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint?

I had Wood Type and Banded the other day. However, they have disappeared from the list of themes, along with many other themes. Any idea on why this occured?

Specifications

Operating System: Windows 8.1

Office: Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus (15.0.4667.1002)

EDIT - 1/20/15

I updated the Title and original post to state theme(s) instead of template(s). I apologize for any confusion.

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2015-06-18T16:36:57+00:00

Can you add the Parrallax theme to your one drive so I can download it.  The dropbox you gave is no longer there.  

thanks. 

Short answer: I thought I was going to have to say no because my 2013 systems don't have all the themes available. But I was able to scare up a bunch of them, so they've been added to my OneDrive folder. http://1drv.ms/1yrdZRq

Long answer: For those of you just coming into this thread, a bunch of themes have been missing from the PowerPoint Start screen. (This is the same screen you can also access by choosing File | New in PowerPoint.) 

Note: The themes that usually show on the PowerPoint Start screen are actually superthemes. Superthemes are like "regular" themes, but they give you variants. Variants are the options you see when you click one of the themes in the Start screen and get that dialog with different color options, pattern options, etc. You also see these variants on the Design tab of the Ribbon.

If you're missing the superthemes, you can get them here on my OneDrive: http://1drv.ms/1yrdZRq

Download the THMX files. Do NOT open them and save them; this will strip out the variants. Instead, just download them and put them in this folder: C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Document Themes. The superthemes must be placed here in order for the variants to be available to presentations based on the superthemes.

To use them, open PPT. The themes may or may not show on your start screen. If they're there, you can click on the theme and you'll see the dialog box where you can select one of the variants. Otherwise, click CUSTOM and then the Document Themes folder. The themes should show up there. Click a theme to open that dialog where you can begin a new presentation based on the theme or one of its variants. Change variants on the Design tab if you wish.

Here's the available files. The ones I added today, some are repeats of ones that were already available. They're named like TM########[[fn=ThemeName]].thmx because I grabbed them from live "managed content" folders, and that's how they were named there. You shouldn't have to rename them. 

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-04-18T23:48:54+00:00

    H

    My question:

    Thank you for the information.  When I go to use "Frame" theme there are no variants.  The theme is perfect, but I need the variants for a college computer class.  Any idea how I can get the variants that go along with Ffo along with Frame theme? 

    Thank you for your help.

    Andrzej Parnowski

    Answer:

    In order to have variants, you must use the THMX, not the POTX.

    Download Frame.THMX from here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bmqbenjgqjzhqs6/AABiA_c29rxU4IEGLEXDjR6aa?dl=0.

    Copy or cut it from your download folder and paste it into this folder on your harddrive:  C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Document Themes

    Now it should show up in the Themes gallery on the Design tab of your Ribbon. It won't show up in the main area. Look for a tab called CUSTOM and see if it's in there. You might have to put them in a different folder (C:\Users\UserName\Documents) in order for them to show up, but hopefully you won't have to do that. ) in order for them to show up, but hopefully you won't have to do that. ) in order for them to show up, but hopefully you won't have to do that. ) in order for them to show up, but hopefully you won't have to do that. ) in order for them to show up, but hopefully you won't have todo that.in order for them to show up, but hopefully you won't have to do that.

    I tried above, and it did not do anything for the variants. It did, however, give the theme "Frame."  In order to complete the assignment using Theme "Frame" with the blue variant, I copied and made new slides from the assignment presentation, which did have the theme "Frame" with the blue variant.  

    This worked, but did not solve the issue with no variants.  Do you have any suggestions on another way to get the variants?  Thank you for your time.  

    Andrzej Parnowski

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-19T00:53:35+00:00

    I don't know what to tell you.

    I downloaded the FRAME.THMX file as I instructed you to do and I put the FRAME.THMX file in this folder  C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Document Theme, again as I instructed you to do. This makes FRAME.THMX show up in File | New | Custom and also in the Themes gallery on the Design tab in PowerPoint 2013. You are using PowerPoint 2013 (or Office 365), aren't you?

    Then I went to File | New | Custom | Document Themes (you may or may not have a Document Themes folder in File | New | Custom -- it depends on what else you have in there) and clicked FRAME.

    When I clicked FRAME, that opened the File | New preview with the variants on the right. Like this. Just click the one you want and then click the CREATE button at the bottom of the preview dialog.

    Or, you could even start a new, blank presentation and go to the Design tab and apply the FRAME.THMX file from there. (Hard to say what you're trying to do because I don't know what your instructions are telling you to do.) 

    When you look at the Design tab, the FRAME.THMX will show in the Themes gallery. Click it to apply it to your presentation, then in the Variants gallery, you'll see the variants.

    The only thing I can think that would be a problem is if you're using a POTX file (template) instead of the THMX (theme). Saving as a POTX strips out the variants. You MUST be working with the THMX if you want the variants to be there.

    The only other thing I can think is that you're using an older version of PowerPoint. PowerPoint 2013 (Office 365) is the first version that uses and sees theme variants.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-04-19T01:30:37+00:00

    Hi:

    I do not know what to say, I followed all your instructions.  I double checked to ensure that I had downloaded frame thmx.  I have the theme, but a gray X for variants.  I do not mean to frustrate you, it just is not working on my pc.  I have Office 365 with powerpoint 2013.  Windows 8.1.  I was able to figure a way around it.  I will retry your suggestion again, perhaps I need to walk away for a little while.   I have been working on this issue all week and I am very frustrated.   

    Thank you for your time and assistance.

    Andrzej Parnowski

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-04-19T02:52:03+00:00

    I know I said I was walking away, but if you could just take one more look.  

    This is the Frame.thmx download you supplied.  No variants.  I am about to lose my mind.  I am grateful for all you have suggested, maybe something is wrong with my pc.  I downloaded it again just to make sure I did it correctly.  I still cannot see the variants.  

    Andrzej Parnowski

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