Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system supports a wide range of color settings. Users may customize the color for window borders and title bars, the Start button and the taskbar.
Microsoft distinguishes between color modes, which refers to dark, light and custom modes, and individual color settings of each mode. This has not changed in the recently released Windows 11 version 23H2 update.
The very first choice that users of Windows 11 have to make is whether to enable light, dark or custom mode.
Here is how they differ:
- Light Mode — designed to work well during daylight hours and in bright environments. This mode supports accent colors for window title bars and borders.
- Dark Mode — designed for low-light environments, e.g., at night. Changes the colors of the Start Menu, Taskbar and Action Center, supports changing colors for windows borders and title bars.
- Custom Mode — custom settings that may mix Dark and Light mode settings.
Changing Color Modes on Windows 11 devices
Follow these step to set the color mode on a Windows 11 system:
- Open Start and select Settings. You may also use the keyboard shortcut Windows-I to open the Settings app this way.
- Select Personalization in the sidebar menu and then Colors on the page that opens.
- Activate the menu next to “choose your mode” and pick one of the available options. These are light, dark and custom.
Changing Light Mode colors
Select Light under “choose your mode” to enable light mode. If the mode was set to custom or dark, you should notice a return to lighter colors immediately.
Scroll down to Accent color. You may set it to manual or automatic. Set it to manual to pick one of the listed “recent colors” or “Windows colors”, or select “View colors” beneath the options to pick a color from the entire color range.
The selected color is set automatically. Note that the option to show the accent color on Start or the taskbar is disabled in light mode.
You may enable or disable “show accent color on title bars and windows borders” to show the selected color there.
If you set the color to automatic, Windows picks the color based on the wallpaper or open applications. Some users may find this confusing, as the color changes regularly when automatic is selected.
Changing Dark Mode colors
Dark mode supports a wider range of color options than light mode. It is unclear why Microsoft decided to restrict light mode in this regard.
After you have selected Dark as the preferred color mode on the system, you may also set the accent color to manual or automatic. The same color options are provided in this regard.
The accent color is shown on the title bars and windows borders by default. You may also enable “show accent color on Start and taskbar” to show it there as well.
Custom Color Mode
This mode gives you the option to set light or dark color modes for Windows and apps individually. You may set Windows to dark mode and apps to light mode, or vice versa.
How to configure less distracting color settings
Depending on how you configure colors on Windows, you may get a colorful system or one that is not as distracting. If you work on Windows 11, you may want to tone down colors on the system.
You may do so in all three color modes. The main recommendation is to disable all other features that Windows supports.
These are:
- Transparency effects — these make Windows and surfaces translucent.
- Show accent color on Start and taskbar — to show the taskbar and Start in a single color that uses the selected color mode as its base.
- Show accent color on title bars and windows borders — to hide accent colors on windows.
It does not really matter which accent color you select, or if you set it to automatic or manual, if you disable all other settings on the page.
Now You: what is your preferred color mode?