Is There Any Way To Customize The Menu/status/tab Bar Colors in Access 2016?

Question

Hello. Access 2016 allows a Colorful or White Office Theme plus one or two more when logged in to Microsoft. We have an Access 2007 Runtime application that we would like to upgrade to Runtime 2016 but the mismatch between 2016 colors and our 2007 form colors is terrible. The gray status bar and gray ribbon background of the Colorful theme is marginally acceptable but the red clay color of the menu bar background and tab text foreground is not. Is there any way possible to customize those colors to be blue? Thanks.

Answer 1

Hello RJ Breneman,

Could you please share us your code in 2007 or a screen shot to tell us where you want to customize colors? The code or the screen shot would make us more clear where do you want to customize. Thanks for understanding,

Best Regards,

Terry

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Answer 2

We create our own menus. In Access 2007, the menus like Home, Create, and the ones we create, etc. have blue backgrounds with dark blue text. The tabs for Table 1, Table 2 have the same colors. All of our forms and marketing materials match this color scheme.

In Access 2016 the menus have red clay background with grey foreground or grey background with red clay foreground. The tabs for Table 1, Table 2 have the same colors. This is what we need to change. Also noted is that Access 2007 title bar followed the Windows scheme but Access 2016 does not. Customizing 2016 properly would include this area somehow too.

If I change the color scheme to White, the red clay color is still the dominant color.

If we cannot change these colors, we would have to redesign all of our forms and recreate all of our marketing materials. We would probably rewrite the application in another framework before redesigning everything in Access 2016.

P.S. What is Microsoft's official name for the color that looks like red clay to me? Thanks.

Answer 3

Hello RJ,

As you know, these color changed with Office theme and Access 2016 does not provide the Blue theme now. As far as I know, Office does not support such custom Office theme at present. So i think you have to rewrite the application where designed for specific blue color.

Thanks for understanding,

Best Regards,

Terry

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Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" the responses that resolved your issue, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if not. This can be beneficial to other community members reading this thread. If you have any compliments or complaints to MSDN Support, feel free to contact [e-mail].

Answer 4

Not sure if it's available in Access 2016, but 2013 has a 'Dark Grey' theme which is more neutral.  The Nav Pane headers are still in brick red, but the bottom border and tabs are grey -- which works well if your application is distributed with the nav pane hidden.

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Miriam Bizup Access MVP

Answer 5

I know this is asking a lot but I have to ask.  Is there any chance Microsoft could supply a blue theme for Access 2016 as a purchased customization for us specifically?  Thanks.

Answer 6

I ran into the same issue. It's a pretty dramatic shift to force on customers who have spent many hours designing their databases to match the previous color scheme. Fortunately, all of our databases are only used internally, so we can live with the harsh contrast.