This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I installed Office 2016 as an upgrade to 2013. Put the color scheme on grey (because annoyingly the awesome Black went away sometime in the preview.)
Now I have a weird issue where every time I close all of the 2016 applications and then reopen one of the applications, the theme has changed from grey to colorful. This applies to reboots or just closing them all and then later opening one back up. Oddly as well today (10/5/2015) I walked away from the computer to talk to a co-worker in the next office. When I came back, it was on colorful again. However that is the only time it has changed itself while open.
It seems to work correctly when it is set to Grey. So for instance, say I open Outlook and change the theme to Grey. When I open Word or Excel, they are also Grey as they should be.
So I'm just throwing that out there as a potential bug
Processes in Microsoft 365 for setting up Office apps, redeeming product keys, and activating licenses.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Still having this issue. Win 7 Pro. Come on, Microsoft.
I've had the same issue on Windows 7 for a while... also getting frustrated with microsoft "working on it" for over a year. Not sure if this latest update fixed the issue, but here is what fixed it for me. Go to your account settings, check to see if there is an issue and you need to sign again, if not, sign out, then sign back in. After signing in, check for and install the latest update. Doing it in this order fixed the issue for me. Good luck everyone!
Hello!
Thanks for posting on the Microsoft Community, and we're sorry that you're experiencing this issue. We have identified the source of this problem and our engineering team is working on a fix. I'll post back once the update containing the fix is released.
Thanks,
Michelle V
Office Team
It's now November 2017. I'm also having this problem.
Here's the reply I got, when I sent in an actual ticket:
This is Cora Scott and I am the Engineer that has been assigned to your case (xxx).
Have you signed out and signed back into Office 2016 using your Office 365 credentials?
To sign out of your account, please click on
File > Office Account > User Information > Sign out.
Then close Outlook and restart your computer. After the restart, open Outlook and sign back in to update the licensing information.
Hi Michelle V,
It is version 16.0.6769.2017
Thank you for your help.
Kelly.
The only thing I've noticed on my computer is that it happens when I first start Outlook. For my colleague, she believes it is happening while Outlook is open, but after she comes back to it. (So after the display has turned off.) And it appears to be popping between the Gray and the White colors only. I don't know if my Gray would ever switch back to White if I left it alone.
We have both been using RDC to connect to our systems from time to time, so I don't know if that has something to do with it. And as a rule, we don't restart the systems and we don't put them to sleep. We do let screen savers kick in after a while.
I'll try your idea of "run as admin" to see what happens. Of course, the problem is intermittent, so it will be a challenge to find a common thread. Will report back later.
Kelly.