How to Switch to Light or Dark Theme in LibreOffice Calc

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2025-02-16

A recent update to LibreOffice Calc seems to have made its spreadsheets black on Windows 11 when dark theme is enabled. Although I like my taskbar black, I don't like my spreadsheets black, so this isn't ideal. Fortunately, there is a way to switch between light and dark modes in Calc, ignoring the operating system setting.

To switch between light and dark themes in Calc, follow the following steps:

1: click on Tools -> Options... on the menubar to open Calc's preferences dialog window. It has a list-detail layout.

2: navigate to LibreOffice -> Appearance on the side pane. The main pane will display appeareance-related options. It's worth noting that these are settings shared across all LibreOffice applications, including LibreOffice Writer, and not a setting specifically for LibreOffice Calc.

A dialog titled "Options - LibreOffice - Appearance." In it, "Appearance" is selected on the side pane. On the main pane, the options: LibreOffice Themes (Automatic), two buttons: New, Remove. A section labelled "Options." Appearance: System (checked), Light, Dark. Customizations (various greyed out controls): Items: Document background. Color, Light / White. Image: Fuzzy Lightgrey, Stretched (unchecked), Tiled (checked). At the bottom, five buttons: Help, Reset, Apply, OK, Cancel. — LibreOffice's options dialog, showing the `Appearance` options.

3: under Options, Appearance, change the setting from System to either Light or Dark.

4: click OK or Apply to save the new preferences.

Troubleshooting

Only The Spreadsheet Becomes Dark, The Rest of the Window Remains Light

It's possible that the color of the spreadsheet and the text on the buttons will change, but the background color of most of the graphical user interface will not, making a lot of the text unreadable. If this happens to you, do not panic. Close the preferences dialog, save your documents (with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S if you can't find it on the menubar), and then close LibreOffice Calc. When you reopen Calc again, the interface should display correctly.

The main window of LibreOffice Calc, light theme, but the cells of the spreadsheet are dark for some reason, with light grid lines. — How LibreOffice Calc looks when there is a theming bug that keeps the spreadsheet cells in dark theme.

Note: this happened to me on Windows 11.

Switching Back to System Theme Doesn't Work

If you switch back from Dark to System, it seems there is a bug that makes the grid black even after you restart. A workaround is to select Light instead of System.

The main window of LibreOffice Calc, but the spreadsheet has become a black rectangle without grid lines. — How LibreOffice Calc looks when a theming bug occurs after switching from dark theme to the system theme.

Note: this happened to me on Windows 11.

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