Change the look of your SharePoint site
Applies ToSharePoint Server Subscription Edition SharePoint Server 2019 SharePoint Server 2016 SharePoint in Microsoft 365 Office 365 Small Business Microsoft 365 admin Office 365 operated by 21Vianet - Small Business Admin Office 365 operated by 21Vianet SharePoint in Microsoft 365 Small Business SharePoint operated by 21Vianet

You can quickly and easily customize the look of your SharePoint site to reflect your professional style and brand. The options available to you depend on the version of SharePoint you're using.

Note: To change the look, you need site owner or design permissions on the site.

Change the look settings are located under Settings Settings for SPO Migration tool in the top right corner of your SharePoint site. For team sites, you can change the theme and header. On communication sites, you can also change the layout of your navigation and add a footer to your site.

Use a theme to change the colors of your SharePoint site

You can choose one of the default SharePoint themes and customize it as needed, choose a company theme with approved branding for your company, or use one of the classic experience designs. To create and upload a company theme, see SharePoint site theming.

Notes: 

  • Some functionality is introduced gradually to organizations that have opted in to the Targeted Release program. This means that you may not yet see this feature or it may look different than what is described in the help articles.

  • For additional ways to customize your site, see Customize your SharePoint site.

  1. On your site, click Settings Settings for SPO Migration tool and then click Change the look > Theme.

    Note: If you don't see Change the look on the Settings menu, you may not have permission to manage this option. For more information, see Understanding permission levels in SharePoint or ask your administrator.

  2. Select the look you want. You'll see a preview of what your site looks like with the selected theme applied. Click Save to apply it to your site or, if you don't like what you see and want to revert back to what you had in the beginning, click Cancel instead.

    Notes: 

    • Your administrator may have set site theming to show only a list of company-approved themes. If so, you won't see any of the default SharePoint themes.

    • If you're updating the theme on a subsite or your administrator has sites set to the classic experience, follow the instructions in the Classic experience designs section .

    Change the theme of your SharePoint site

  3. To customize the colors of one of the default SharePoint themes, select the theme and then click Customize.

  4. Choose the main color and accent color you want, and then click Save to apply it to your site. The list of main colors and accent colors varies depending on the default SharePoint theme you choose to customize.

    Note: Currently, you can't change the background color for your site using this setting. SharePoint administrators can make changes to company-approved themes as described in SharePoint theming.

    Select a new theme for your SharePoint site

    Customize the theme colors of your SharePoint site

Edit footer labels and links

After you've added a footer to your site you can add a links or labels to the footer. Select Edit in the footer on the left hand side of the menu labels and links.

Edit option for extended footer

For details about adding or editing links and labels, see Customize the navigation on your SharePoint site. You can add one level of up to eight links or labels.

Change the color, background, or font with classic experience themes

If your administrator has sites set to the classic experience, or you're changing the theme of a subsite, follow these steps to change the color, background, and font of your SharePoint site:

  1. On your site, click Settings Office 365 Settings button and then click Change the look.

  2. Click View classic settings or Classic change the look options. If you're already in the classic experience, skip this step.

    Example of the designs available for customizing your community site

  3. Choose a look from among the choices. Don't worry if you don't like the color or the image exactly, you can change that in the next step.

  4. To add or change the background image, choose Change to upload an image of your own, or drag an image from your computer onto the thumbnail image above the Change command.

    SharePoint change a look background image selection

  5. To change the color scheme, click the arrow next to Colors and select another color scheme.

    Edit the look's colors, fonts, and layout

  6. To change the layout, click the arrow next to Site layout and select another layout, which controls the position of the navigation links, search box, and so on.

  7. To change the fonts, click the arrow next to Fonts and select another font.

    Note: You can change the font type style, but you can't change the size.

  8. When you're ready to see a full-sized preview of how your changes look when applied to your site content, click Try it out. The changes are not yet visible to other site users.

    Note: If you don't like what you see and want to revert back to what you had in the beginning, click Start over or you can click your site logo to exit Change the look and go back to the home page of your site.

  9. If you like what you see in the preview, click Yes, keep it. If not, click No, not quite there and try something else.

    Keep changes, or ignore

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