Using Linux Mint is, from the start, a unique experience, because of its flagship desktop environment: Cinnamon. This is one of the main reasons why I love Linux Mint over Ubuntu.
Since Linux Mint’s dev team started to take design more seriously, the “Themes” option has become simpler, but the advance settings still exist to customize the look and feel with greater control. You can change the theme, cursor icons, app icons, and more.
So, how do you do that? Let me tell you about it.
Steps to change themes in Linux Mint
In Linux Mint, you can use the default Themes app to get started. Here, you can either select from the default preset themes or install new third-party themes.
Search for themes in the menu and open the Themes applet.
Latest Cinnamon versions will show you a minimal themes settings window. Here, you can change the themes like Light/Dark mode, Accent Colors, etc.
These settings are enough for minimal tweaks. But if you are into more customizations, you can select the “Advanced Settings” button at the bottom of the screen. This will open the full theming application.
Here, you can change the Application themes, Panel (Desktop) themes, Icons and Cursor themes.
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Abhishek Prakash
Installing third-party themes in Linux Mint from within Themes App
Inside the application, there’s an “Add/Remove” section, pretty simple, right?
Just click on it, and you can see Cinnamon Spices (Cinnamon’s official add-ons' repository) themes ordered first by popularity.
To install one, all you need to do is click on your preferred one and wait for it to download. Thereafter, the theme will be available at the “Desktop” option under "Themes" section.
And, then, click on one of the installed themes to select it as the new theme.
Here’s the default Linux Mint look:
And here’s after I changed the theme (Semabe Azure Less Transparent):
All the themes are also available at the Cinnamon Spices site for more information and bigger screenshots so you can take a better look at how your system will look before you download/apply them.
Installing third-party themes in Linux Mint from Cinnamon Look
“I saw this amazing theme on another site, and it is not available at Cinnamon Spices…”
Cinnamon Spices has a good collection of themes, but you will still find that the theme you saw some place else is not available on the official Cinnamon website.
Well, it would be nice if there was another way, no? You might imagine that there is and there is.
You can visit Cinnamon Look (you can also use GNOME-Look, more on that below) and browse themes there. If you like something, download it.
After the preferred theme is downloaded, you will have a compressed file now with all you need for the installation. Extract it and save at ~/.themes. The “~” file path is actually your home folder: /home/{YOURUSER}/.themes.
So, go to your Home directory and press Ctrl+H to show hidden files in Linux. If you don’t see a .themes folder, create a new folder and name .themes. Remember that the dot at the beginning of the folder name is important.
Copy the extracted theme folder from your Downloads directory to the .themes folder in your Home directory.
After that, look for the installed theme on the application tab of the themes app.
You can see that the new theme just changes the entire look of Cinnamon!
Installing third-party themes in Linux Mint using GNOME-Look
Often the themes found on Cinnamon Looks are a bit outdated or less frequently developed. Developers of many modern GNOME themes also release a theme variant for Cinnamon. While not all themes have it, you can download and check those that have Cinnamon support.
In the above screenshot, you can see that there is a “Cinnamon” folder inside the popular GNOME theme “Fluent Round”. Thus, if you copy such themes (entire theme folder) to ~/.themes you can apply it to both desktop and applications.
Changing theme is one part of Cinnamon customization. You can also change the look of Linux Mint by changing the icons.
Abhishek Prakash
Revert Back to Default
Didn’t like the applied setup? You need not worry! You can simply revert it back to the default using one single click.
Open the themes app. By default, you should be on the Simplistic view. Now, from “Custom”, make it “Mint Y”. That’s it. You are back to the default Linux Mint themes.
Reverting the themes back to the default Cinnamon theme.
Wrapping Up
I hope now you know how to change themes in Linux Mint. Which theme are you going to use?
You can also apply themes to Flatpak apps, so that the system get a uniform look everywhere!
Sreenath
For more customize tips, here is a concise guide on customizing the Cinnamon Desktop:
Dimitrios
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