How to Go Full Dark Mode With LibreOffice

Want to use LibreOffice in complete dark mode? Here's what you need to do for that in Linux.

LibreOffice is a free and open-source cross-platform office productivity software. If you’re not making the most of it, the LibreOffice Tips article is a must-read.

The dark theme is getting popular even among non-programmers. It is less stressing on the eyes, specially for extended use of the screen. Some people believe that it makes the texts look crisp and clear and that helps improve their productivity.

Some Linux distributions like Ubuntu come with dark mode these days, giving your systems a darker tint. When you turn on the dark mode, some applications will automatically switch to dark mode.

LibreOffice also does that, except the main area where you write:

The editor area in the default settings of LibreOffice is in light mode — LibreOffice Editor area light mode

You can change that. If you want to go complete dark mode with LibreOffice, you just have to change a few settings. Let me show you how to do that.

Method 1: Enable complete dark mode in LibreOffice Automatically

As I mentioned earlier, you need to enable a system-wide dark mode first. This will ensure that the window color (or the title bar) blends well with the in-app dark color. On Ubuntu, you can do this by going to Settings → Appearance → Toggle Dark Mode.

Enable system-wide dark mode in Ubuntu through the system settings application — Enable dark mode in Ubuntu

💡

In the latest GNOME releases, the dark/light mode can be toggled right from the top panel system tray.

Next, open any LibreOffice tool from the suite, such as Writer. Then from the menu, click Tools → Options.

From the LibreOffice Menubar, select Tools and then click on Options — Select *Tools → Options*

In the Options window, go to the Application Colors tab and change the color scheme to LibreOffice Dark.

Set the application color scheme as LibreOffice Dark and click on Apply button — Set LibreOffice Dark as Color Scheme

Now, click on Apply to apply the changes.

Dark Mode on Latest LibreOffice Releases

There is a slight change for the process on the latest releases of LibreOffice, like version 7.6. First, go to Tools → Options → Application Colors. Here, set the scheme to Automatic.

Now, on the adjacent Automatic field, set the theme as System Theme. Click on Apply.

This will make LibreOffice automatically change according to the system theme. That is, when it is dark mode, LibreOffice will be dark and vice versa.

You can also set LibreOffice to permanent dark mode, by changing the Automatic value from System Themes to Dark.

Method 2: Manually Change Colors

Not fond of the default dark theme in LibreOffice? Don't worry! You can always change the themes manually to your liking.

Open a LibreOffice tool from the suite, such as Writer. From the menu, click Tools→ Options.

From Application Colors, select Document background & Application background as Black or Automatic (whichever works for you).

Set a custom colors for LibreOffice document areas — Set custom colors

Also, change the colors for other areas too, like font color, table boundaries, etc.

🚧

You should change the colors properly so that the readability is not affected. A dark text on a dark background will reduce readability.

Sometimes, the icons may not be visible when you change the color scheme.

Icons are not visible in LibreOffice tool bar after a color scheme change — Icons not Visible

You can change them from as shown in the image below. Go to Tools → Options. From the options window, go to the View tab. My personal choice, on MX Linux, is the Yaru icon style from Ubuntu (if you have a dark version of the icon pack, select that).

Dark icon theme in dark mode

💡

In a dark theme, you should select the dark mode icons and vice versa.

Of course, you can also try some other icon themes available for Linux distros. Alternatively, you can just click on the “Install icons button” to install some icon theme extensions on LibreOffice.

Download icon themes

Here, a pitch-black background is chosen for the document background. The result should look like this:

Pitch black theme applied to the editor in LibreOffice — Pitch-Black background

Additional tip for LibreOffice Flatpak/Snap package

If you’re using the Flatpak package or Snap package of LibreOffice suite, the header area (or the menu area) of LibreOffice may look different. In that case, you can try navigating to Tools→ Options→ Personalization and then select the “Grey theme” as shown in the screenshot below.Additional tip for LibreOffice Flatpak/Snap package.

If you are using Flatpak package of LibreOffice, you can easily manage the dark theme of the main window. Just follow our dedicated guide on theming Flatpak applications with GTK themes.

At the same time, if you are using the Snap package of LibreOffice suite, you may not be able to change the look of the main window, apart from what the default is.

So, sometimes, the header area (or the menu area) of LibreOffice may look different. In that case, you can try navigating to Tools→ Options→ Personalization and then select the “Grey theme” as shown in the screenshot below.

Set the LibreOffice theme to preinstalled grey — Preinstalled themes in LibreOffice

It isn’t completely black, but it should make things look better. Hope that helps you switch to a dark theme LibreOffice experience!

Conclusion

Dark themes have slowly started to dominate our desktops, giving a modern taste and reducing the eye strain, especially in low light conditions.

LibreOffice gives you the freedom to switch your working environment to a fully dark theme or to keep light themed elements. In fact, you get a decent amount of customization options to tweak what you prefer. Have you switched to a dark theme on LibreOffice? Which color combination is your preferred? Let us know in the comments below!