So, used Office 2016 until the past week, then upgraded to 2021. In 2016, I had a nice sunset theme around the whole suite. Nice colors.

Now, it seems the only options I have with 2021 are Dark grey, black, white, colorful and system settings. I can choose theme colors, which seem to have little to no impact on borders, which is what I'm really talking about. Most especially in Word, as there are so few borders, the colors all either essentially being white, gray or black is fairly awful.

Is there a way to mod these options, to bring back a bit of life to this dull and dead palate to choose from? In this day and age, I simply don't understand this total lack of personalization options.

Befuddled at how strangely difficult this is.

Thanks, your help is much appreciated!



Oh, guess I'll ask a little bonus question: Is there a way to enable predictive typing in 2021, or is this only for 365? (This was actually the reason I upgraded in the first place, thought it was part of the upgrade. :| )

First, please post your "bonus" question as a separate question. You'll get better answers.


There are two separate themes involved in Word and Office.


The first is the Word Theme that applies to elements in a document. (Also can be used in other Office applications) The settings for this, in recent versions, are under the Design tab.

The second is the Office Display theme which applies to how applications appear in Windows. The settings for this are under File > Account.


The first can be customized; you can create your own themes.
The second you only have the choices offered by Microsoft. That was equally true with Office 2016.


[Quick] Style Sets and Word Themes in Microsoft Word