If you do not know, Microsoft Word has a dark mode. The problem is that a large part of your screen, especially the large page on which you are writing, stays white even after activating the feature. For reference, this is what the ‘dark’ mode currently looks like in Word:
You have a large amount of white staring at you. But as Paul Thurrott noticed, Microsoft is currently testing a full-fledged dark mode that makes the white page dark gray and black text white (the feature is currently limited to Office Insiders). Colors remain the same overall hue, but ‘are shifted to accommodate the new color contrast’ and ‘mute the overall effect of the color palette and look more visually pleasing with the new dark background.’
It looks like this:
To enable dark mode, go to File> Options> General> Personalize and select ‘Black’ from the ‘Office Theme’ menu.
No, this does not mean that your pages will be darkened; the function is only intended as an aesthetic tool at the time of writing. To see an example of what the page will look like when printed or shared, you can simply tap the ‘Switch Modes’ button in the ‘View’ menu. The interface remains in dark mode, but you will now see the page as it would be printed.
If you like the dark user interface but would rather like a white page, go to File> Options> General> Personalize and tap ‘Disable dark’ next to ‘Office Theme’.
This is a welcome option. Shooting a large white rectangle on you defeats the target for many dark mode users.
Some people use the dark mode solely for aesthetic reasons, and may not care that the actual page you are writing on should remain white as long as the interface is white. Others use dark mode to reduce the brightness of the screen due to light sensitivity or to reduce blue light before sleep. Personally, I use it only because I find the dark mode easier on the eyes and less disturbing at night.
Unfortunately, the feature is currently only available to Beta testers who are subscribed to Microsoft’s Insider channel. While the feature is likely to transition to the stable form of Word – the dark mode of OneNote works the same way – there’s nothing to say when exactly that might happen.
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Published on February 10, 2021 – 00:48 UTC