Bug 153229 - [RFE] Please provide a user preference to disable inheriting the system UI theme
Summary: [RFE] Please provide a user preference to disable inheriting the system UI theme
Status: VERIFIED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.4.5.1 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Caolán McNamara
URL:
Whiteboard: target:7.6.0 target:7.5.1
Keywords:
: 153377 153379 153540 153555 153556 153579 (view as bug list)
Depends on: 148086 153465
Blocks: LibreOffice-Themes Dark-Mode
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2023-01-26 22:54 UTC by lphilpot01
Modified: 2023-10-16 15:28 UTC (History)
25 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
LO Calc with dark Windows app mode (106.27 KB, image/png)
2023-01-28 01:50 UTC, lphilpot01
Details
LO Calc with light Windows app mode (98.58 KB, image/png)
2023-01-28 01:51 UTC, lphilpot01
Details
Windows app mode toggle (8.00 KB, image/png)
2023-01-28 01:51 UTC, lphilpot01
Details
Windows os/DE selection of Color theme, LO behavior setting "app mode" Light or Dark (5.45 MB, image/gif)
2023-01-28 17:13 UTC, V Stuart Foote
Details
A screencast of a UWP app (calculator) selector (454.83 KB, image/gif)
2023-02-03 07:44 UTC, Mike Kaganski
Details
LibreOffice 7.5 launched with light theme in macOS while system is in dark mode (423.92 KB, image/png)
2023-02-04 21:05 UTC, M-Rick
Details
LibreOffice 7.4 launched with light theme in PopOS while system is in dark mode (616.46 KB, image/png)
2023-02-04 21:06 UTC, M-Rick
Details
LO_Style_design (35.21 KB, image/png)
2023-03-08 17:20 UTC, Roman
Details

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Description lphilpot01 2023-01-26 22:54:57 UTC
Description:
Request for Enhancement

This is related to Bug 118320 - Add support for Windows 10/11 dark mode. 

On Windows 11 (at least) the system dark mode overrides the LO theme. The only way to run LO in light mode is to turn off dark mode in Windows. So it's not possible to have both a dark Windows UI and a light LO UI.

A preference toggle to ignore the Windows (or any OS) theme and instead use the selected LO theme would solve this and provide greater flexibility.

Thanks.

Steps to Reproduce:
Select the dark OS theme in Windows Settings

Actual Results:
The non-document parts of the app remain virtually black even when a light LO theme is chosen in the app. They actually are darker than the "dark" Windows apps.

Expected Results:
LO's UI should use the chosen LO theme, regardless of the Windows (OS) theme.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
The OS should NOT be able to override an application's appearance (if the proposed disable option is active).
Comment 1 V Stuart Foote 2023-01-27 21:45:29 UTC
Really don't see too much need for this (avoid LO response to system in Dark theme). 

NOTE: the Dark mode support is still experimental at 7.4, enable from Tools -> Options -> Advanced.

Otherwise, please give a 7.5 prerelease, or a nightly against 7.6 a test via parallel install [1] to check if UI has improved.

=-ref-=
[1] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel
when doing the /A administrative install, pay attention to setting the User configuration to not clobber your working profile.
Comment 2 lphilpot01 2023-01-27 21:50:20 UTC
I'll take a look at a newer version. But to be clear, my request is for a way to avoid LO using the system dark theme altogether, not a way to better use it. I can avoid an LO dark theme by simply not selecting it, but I can't currently prevent LO from picking up the system dark theme. I'd just like to cut the connection between LO and the system theme, as it were.

Thanks.
Comment 3 Regina Henschel 2023-01-27 22:18:38 UTC
Do you have tried to use one of the predefined LO themes? Go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Personalization. Perhaps that solves your problem already.
Comment 4 lphilpot01 2023-01-28 01:50:45 UTC
Created attachment 184974 [details]
LO Calc with dark Windows app mode
Comment 5 lphilpot01 2023-01-28 01:51:16 UTC
Created attachment 184975 [details]
LO Calc with light Windows app mode
Comment 6 lphilpot01 2023-01-28 01:51:40 UTC
Created attachment 184976 [details]
Windows app mode toggle
Comment 7 lphilpot01 2023-01-28 01:56:34 UTC
See the attached screen shots which illustrate what I'm describing:


"LibreOffice scheme, light preinstalled theme, dark Windows app mode.png"
This is how Calc looks with the LibreOffice application colors scheme, the light Preinstalled theme and Windows dark app mode.

"LibreOffice scheme, no theme, light Windows app mode.png"
This is how Calc looks with the LibreOffice application colors scheme, no theme and Windows light app mode.

"Windows light app mode.png"
This is what I'm toggling in the Windows settings app.

As you can see the Windows app mode is overriding almost all UI other than maybe the menu bar and toolbar(s). That's why I want to prevent LO from adopting the Windows app mode.

This is 7.4.5.1 -- I've downloaded 7.5.0.2 but haven't installed it yet.
Comment 8 lphilpot01 2023-01-28 02:25:50 UTC
Update - No change with 7.5.0.2. The system mode still overrides the application UI.

I guess I just don't understand the logic behind letting the OS run roughshod over an application. There are plenty of instances where there's no choice, but to basically lie down and invite Windows (or any OS, for that matter) to interfere just doesn't make sense to me. IMO the OS should provide hardware / user resource management, so that users (via apps) can use the computer, not be a centralized control-all. And that's aside from the actual visual issues.

Anyway, no improvement with 7.5.x.
Comment 9 V Stuart Foote 2023-01-28 17:13:45 UTC
Created attachment 184980 [details]
Windows os/DE selection of Color theme, LO behavior setting "app mode" Light or Dark

As shown in the attached screen capture of recent master against 7.6 from Win10 system in Dark color theme, we actually have the requested behavior now. 

Windows os/DE Settings -> Colors "default app mode" distinct from the "Windows mode" for Win 11, or also Win 10 (exposed when Color theme is set "Custom"), will toggle the LibreOffice theme in response. Its entire UI responds, even though LO is a Win32 API desktop application and is not UWP.

The Tools -> Options -> Personalization dialog is shown. But no Preinstalled theme is selected, so LO interface is responding only to the os/DE color theme settings.

The UI fg/bg color responds as does the Icon theme (from the Tools -> Options -> View).

Minor issues on os/DE "App mode" theme toggle where LO pop-up dialogs only partially respond, e.g. treelist bg/fg colors don't switch, corrected with a relaunch of the dialog. 

Unfortunately at present the old "Mozilla" style theming is junk and should not be used, the whole framework needs to be refactored to do something useful to move UI configuration away from os/DE theming. That is bug 125217

LO also provides partial override via the Tools -> Options -> Application Colors panel, were default "Automatic" UI elements colors (that respond to os/DE theme) can be set and saved to a user's own color scheme(s).  The project provides the predefined 'LibreOffice Dark' theme as an example.

Otherwise IMHO we do enough already and this request should be closed => WFM

=-ref-=
Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 37e3455a13ab5741104bf41d05a80e60a4612682
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19044; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 10 lphilpot01 2023-01-28 18:31:41 UTC
Thanks for the information and attachment. I guess I must be misunderstanding.

> ...we actually have the requested behavior now. 
>
> ...Its entire UI responds

My point was NOT that it was being only partially themed by Windows, it was that it was being themed *at all*. This is exactly what my RFE requests be "disable-able" via user preference.

LO -- particularly 7.6 -- appears to behave like a native Microsoft application (for whatever reason?) so there's no way to *prevent* this behavior and insulate LO's UI from app mode interference.


> Otherwise IMHO we do enough already and this request should be closed => WFM

Well, I'm just as user asking for an RFE -- I have no other voice. Obviously that's your choice.
Comment 11 Heiko Tietze 2023-01-31 08:54:38 UTC
The request is to properly assign the system colors (aka dark mode) but allow to use completely different colors. For example, window color would be dark or light grey in the OS depending on day/night shift and used as this in LibreOffice of the color is set to Automatic. But users can overwrite it and always use something else.
Comment 12 Heiko Tietze 2023-02-02 10:04:51 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting.

Providing an option to switch automatic / light / dark theme is common functionality and should be implemented. The implementation should use the system colors but if this is not possible cross-platform any hard-coded set of colors is not ideal.

I suggest to add the system colors to the option application color and make it extensionizable so the community can create different sets. This work should ideally be combined with the effort to introduce a "LibreOffice theme" (bug 125217) that allows not only to define a color but also gradients and images, if applicable.
Comment 13 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-02-02 23:21:55 UTC
Another point which was briefly mentioned in the design meeting was that of discoverability/ease-of-access of this setting. To state it more concretely: If this option is hidden away under Tools | Options | LO General | View , new(bie) users will not find it easily. On the other hand, perhaps that's not so bad with our choice of default, which is following the system setting.
Comment 14 Mike Kaganski 2023-02-03 07:44:30 UTC
Created attachment 185079 [details]
A screencast of a UWP app (calculator) selector

(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #12)
> Providing an option to switch automatic / light / dark theme is common
> functionality and should be implemented.

Confirming how the *overriding* of a system-defined *default* mode is a standard for current UWP apps.

Note how Windows also talks about "defaults" in its UI - see attachment 184980 [details].

So even though LibreOffice is not an UWP app, since we try to follow the mode, we need also to provide the OS-specific UI conventions, thus implementing it is a really important thing.

Those who use Visual Studio, can open its installer ("C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vs_installer.exe"), and see how a similar selector is implemented there as a switcher button in the title bar.
Comment 15 John Mills 2023-02-03 09:29:10 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #12)
> We discussed the topic in the design meeting.
> 
> Providing an option to switch automatic / light / dark theme is common
> functionality and should be implemented. The implementation should use the
> system colors but if this is not possible cross-platform any hard-coded set
> of colors is not ideal.
> 
> I suggest to add the system colors to the option application color and make
> it extensionizable so the community can create different sets. This work
> should ideally be combined with the effort to introduce a "LibreOffice
> theme" (bug 125217) that allows not only to define a color but also
> gradients and images, if applicable.

I go along with this suggestion wholeheartedly, we should by default follow the system theme of light and dark and add the ability to easily overwrite this selection. This is expected in Windows now for applications that have a dark mode. It is not an unreasonable request. The option should also not be hidden under many layers of menu choices that confuse users with little experience.
Comment 16 John Mills 2023-02-03 13:22:48 UTC Comment hidden (noise)
Comment 17 derei 2023-02-03 19:40:53 UTC Comment hidden (me-too)
Comment 18 farmerjoe@muell.io 2023-02-04 12:45:07 UTC Comment hidden (me-too)
Comment 19 Mike Kaganski 2023-02-04 19:00:02 UTC
*** Bug 153377 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 20 Mike Kaganski 2023-02-04 19:02:09 UTC
*** Bug 153379 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 21 M-Rick 2023-02-04 21:04:16 UTC
On macOS this can be done easily with the following command:
defaults write org.libreoffice.script NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool yes (disable dark mode)
It works pretty well

On Linux it can be done in Gnome specifying the GTK theme variant:
libreoffice %U (default behaviour follows system settings)
Exec=env GTK_THEME=Pop libreoffice %U (force light theme in PopOS)
Exec=env GTK_THEME=Pop-dark libreoffice %U (force dark theme in PopOS)

On Windows I don't know.
Comment 22 M-Rick 2023-02-04 21:05:18 UTC
Created attachment 185121 [details]
LibreOffice 7.5 launched with light theme in macOS while system is in dark mode
Comment 23 M-Rick 2023-02-04 21:06:53 UTC
Created attachment 185122 [details]
LibreOffice 7.4 launched with light theme in PopOS while system is in dark mode
Comment 24 Pedro 2023-02-05 11:05:51 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #12)
> We discussed the topic in the design meeting.
> 
> Providing an option to switch automatic / light / dark theme is common
> functionality and should be implemented. The implementation should use the
> system colors but if this is not possible cross-platform any hard-coded set
> of colors is not ideal.
> 
> I suggest to add the system colors to the option application color and make
> it extensionizable so the community can create different sets. This work
> should ideally be combined with the effort to introduce a "LibreOffice
> theme" (bug 125217) that allows not only to define a color but also
> gradients and images, if applicable.

I agree with Heiko's proposal and Mike's example of how it should work looks good to me.

Maybe we could add that to a dialog where the user can also select the preferred UI?
Comment 25 Heiko Tietze 2023-02-06 11:34:07 UTC
(In reply to Pedro from comment #24)
> Maybe we could add that to a dialog where the user can also select the
> preferred UI?

Had the same idea in bug 153334 :-) 
But first we need the opportunity to change the system theme, and Caolan promised to look into it.
Comment 26 Jon Grossart 2023-02-08 03:40:44 UTC
Another potential issue is the mismatch between applied system theme and icon/application color settings.

The default icons for LibO on Windows is Colibre. However, these are the light icons. When LibO inherits the dark mode from the system, it isn't also switching the icon set or the application colors.

I assume the correct behavior would be Light OS theme -> Light Icons, Light Application Colors, and Dark OS theme -> Dark Icons (if present for your selection), Dark Application Colors. Although Light Application colors might still be the correct default here depending on the UX design team's plans.

However, the defaults are showing up as Dark OS theme -> Light icons, Light application colors, which makes half of the icons almost invisible unless you go in and manually change them.
Comment 27 Caolán McNamara 2023-02-08 09:07:20 UTC
The default "automatic" icon theme switches between Colibre to Colibre (dark) on changing to/from dark mode.
Comment 28 steve 2023-02-08 13:12:54 UTC
> The default "automatic" icon theme switches between Colibre to Colibre (dark) on changing to/from dark mode.

When starting LibreOffice main build in safe mode it is started with Theme `Automatic (Sukapura)`. So there is no automatic icon theme switch happening.

See: https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=148086#c3
Comment 29 Commit Notification 2023-02-08 16:12:22 UTC
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/f7c03364e24da285ea95cea0cc688a7a120fc163

tdf#153229 add a switch to override honoring system dark mode

It will be available in 7.6.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 30 lphilpot01 2023-02-08 16:25:01 UTC
Thank you!!
Comment 31 Commit Notification 2023-02-08 19:27:43 UTC
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/b9399259b2cc612e38b178667e08d444a7e2fc1e

tdf#153229 use bestMatchFromAppearancesWithNames to take user pref into account

It will be available in 7.6.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 32 Caolán McNamara 2023-02-08 19:48:01 UTC
(In reply to steve from comment #28)
> There is no automatic icon theme switch happening.

Odd, seems to work ok for me. For macOS I see Automatic (Sukapura) on starting in Light mode, and Automatic (Breeze (dark))" in dark mode. Also switches automatically from one to the other too when I toggle the macOS Appearance from one to the other while LibreOffice is running.

Anyway, that's an aside on the main topic of adding a way to toggle dark/light away from inherited from the system which seems to be working reasonable well in trunk now for me on the three platforms: macOS, Windows and gtk.

If want to backport to 7-5, then would need to get an exception for the translations, or find some existing translated terms that are close enough. I don't see Dark/Light/Bright available translated standalone already however.
Comment 33 steve 2023-02-08 22:43:59 UTC
Caolán, my apologies. Automatic icon theme switching is working actually perfectly fine on macOS. I got confused since automatic switching stops to work when switching to another icon them (even though that may come with light and dark variant) but that indeed belongs into https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=148086

Thanks for being so quick to add dark light system options. Can't wait to take a peek at the next main build.
Comment 34 Commit Notification 2023-02-09 08:58:59 UTC
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/f121b890f8f70fe2a0e633d3b4ad59c27ebba9b3

tdf#153229 add an extended tip for this new widget

It will be available in 7.6.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 35 Heiko Tietze 2023-02-09 11:12:43 UTC
Works like a charm on Windows, going to test on macOS.

The dropdown is hidden on Linux/Qt but shown when running with SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN gtk3/gtk4. Gtk4 crashes when I apply the switched mode, gtk3 just ignores it. Perhaps you find something to distinguish the OS/DE more reliably or we also have a switch on Qt (my idea, if there is no inbuilt mechanism, was to have extensionizable sets of colors; light/dark as implemented defines the automatic color defaults).
Comment 36 steve 2023-02-09 11:36:48 UTC
Filed https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=153497 as followup.

Icon theme info in settings is not updated when switching appearance mode.

Thanks for this much needed setting. I would prefer if instead of calling the option "Automatic" it was called "System". Automatic is not descriptive and it seems most other software uses "System (default) | Light | Dark" to describe the various modes.

This settings area may benefit from using radio buttons instead of a dropdown. I don't see the need to call the selection area "Mode:". Having the heading "Appearance" and three radio buttons should do the trick without hiding information from users or showing unnecessary info like "Mode:" and allow switching with a single click (instead of two clicks using the dropdown) so accessibility would also benefit.
Comment 37 farmerjoe@muell.io 2023-02-09 14:30:09 UTC
(In reply to Commit Notification from comment #34)
> Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
> It will be available in 7.6.0.

In which menu will the new option be available?
Comment 38 V Stuart Foote 2023-02-09 15:50:31 UTC
(In reply to farmerjoe@muell.io from comment #37)
> 
> In which menu will the new option be available?

Tools -> Options -> View  "Appearance"  as Automatic, Light or Dark

as noted in the commit at comment 29
Comment 39 Caolán McNamara 2023-02-10 09:56:17 UTC
(In reply to steve from comment #36)
> ... I would prefer if instead of calling the option "Automatic" it was
> called "System".

I can make that change, macOS is using "Automatic" to mean Light changes to Dark at some time during the day so Automatic is potentially ambiguous for the setting.

> This settings area may benefit from using radio buttons instead of a
> dropdown.

I'm not against it, but I'll leave it as a task for someone else, especially in the context of something we want to backport to 7-5 without the risk that "Dark" "Light" "System" translates to something ridiculously wide in some language leading to an endless series of adjustment requests to the options page.

(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #35)
> The dropdown is hidden on Linux/Qt but shown when running with
> SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN gtk3/gtk4. 

As far as I know there isn't explicit dark mode support in the qt/kf backend. It already doesn't seem to "know" if its in dark mode in order to automatically select an appropriate icon theme. For me with hidpi and wayland a lot of the basic functionality is not really functional with misplaced menus and awkward font sizes. If we want to enable it for qt/kf then someone else will have to figure out how to do it.

> Gtk4 crashes when I apply the switched mode

I think that's unrelated, see https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=72959cc2b36749a779b56522f27e290731187043 for (maybe) a recent fix for that

> gtk3 just ignores it.

works here of course. I'm guessing from the qt/kf comments that you're using plasma as your desktop?

> Perhaps you find something to distinguish the OS/DE
> more reliably or we also have a switch on Qt (my idea...).

If the problem is with the qt/kf version then it doesn't appeal to me to create and support some workaround just for that.
Comment 40 Heiko Tietze 2023-02-10 10:12:01 UTC
(In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #39)
> I'm guessing from the qt/kf comments that you're using
> plasma as your desktop?
Yes, KDE.

> If the problem is with the qt/kf version then it doesn't appeal to me to
> create and support some workaround just for that.
Majority of users are on Windows, and even less will start with VCL_PLUGIN. Probably not worth the effort.
Comment 41 V Stuart Foote 2023-02-11 01:07:07 UTC
*** Bug 153540 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 42 Commit Notification 2023-02-11 07:44:50 UTC
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/83eceff8e5136504106c2fd9de26543c37000085

Related: tdf#153229 use 'System' instead of 'Automatic'

It will be available in 7.6.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 43 V Stuart Foote 2023-02-12 07:43:07 UTC
*** Bug 153555 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 44 V Stuart Foote 2023-02-12 07:43:10 UTC
*** Bug 153556 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 45 V Stuart Foote 2023-02-12 07:43:16 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 46 steve 2023-02-12 20:00:20 UTC
Verified fixed, the setting is there and works as expected. As for the radio buttons, that should probably go into a followup bug instead. And I understand your objections, as that may cause trouble with localizations.

Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 6f15382790e2e758ef7328a62341b30c655aced1
CPU threads: 4; OS: Mac OS X 13.2; UI render: Skia/Metal; VCL: osx
Locale: en-US (en_DE.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 47 Mike Kaganski 2023-02-12 21:39:27 UTC
(In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #32)
> If want to backport to 7-5, then would need to get an exception for the
> translations, or find some existing translated terms that are close enough.

Possibly, given the problems of backporting UI changes, but at the same time, taking into account the high impact of the newly introduced feature of default dark mode support on Windows, it could be reasonable to only backport the registry setting, without the UI, to make it already available in 7.5 as advanced setting.
Comment 48 Tex2002ans 2023-02-14 17:49:37 UTC
(In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #47)
> [...] taking into account the high impact of the newly introduced feature of default dark mode support on Windows, [...]

I think backporting to 7.5.1 is key.

This is leading to *major* headaches in all sorts of tech support.

On the LibreOffice subreddit, every day, there's already a flood of multiple near-duplicate "Dark Mode is broken on Windows" posts.

If this fix gets buried in an advanced registry setting... we're going to still have 6+ months of "Dark Mode is broken" tsunami.

At least, if it's easy-to-toggle in 7.5.1+, then we could just say:

1. Upgrade to 7.5.1+.
2. Go to Tools > Options.
3. LibreOffice > View.
4. Choose Light/Dark/System.
Comment 49 BikeHelmet 2023-02-15 08:13:25 UTC Comment hidden (me-too)
Comment 50 Commit Notification 2023-02-15 11:06:10 UTC
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-7-5":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/f0814dca8f05f524068b8217a9f1eabd8266cdc4

tdf#153229 add a switch to override honoring system dark mode

It will be available in 7.5.2.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 51 Commit Notification 2023-02-15 16:56:30 UTC
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-7-5-1":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/6dbe895a22e4571e024a2a7e38f9971e83abdf3e

tdf#153229 add a switch to override honoring system dark mode

It will be available in 7.5.1.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Comment 52 Luca 2023-02-21 17:18:48 UTC
(In reply to Commit Notification from comment #51)
> Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue.
...
> It will be available in 7.5.1.

This is just to say please, hurry. I just upgraded from 7.3 to 7.5.0 and I almost had a heart attack, with all that black and no way to get rid of it without changing all other apps' colours too.

> The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
> https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. 

I just tried with the current dev build (7.5.2.0) for Windows 11/64 and it seems to work.
Comment 53 Mihai Vasiliu 2023-02-22 21:01:54 UTC
Just a comment here on the dark theme.
I was upset on the default dark theme in 7.5 because it is way too dark and can be considered a deep black theme.
We should consider creating a real dark theme, using shades of grey, as other applications do, otherwise the contrast between the white content (page/slide etc) with the UI is very disturbing to the eye and that was the main issue.
What do you think?
Thanks.
Comment 54 V Stuart Foote 2023-02-22 21:13:06 UTC
(In reply to Mihai Vasiliu from comment #53)
> Just a comment here on the dark theme.
> I was upset on the default dark theme in 7.5 because it is way too dark and
> can be considered a deep black theme.
> We should consider creating a real dark theme, using shades of grey, as
> other applications do, otherwise the contrast between the white content
> (page/slide etc) with the UI is very disturbing to the eye and that was the
> main issue.
> What do you think?
> Thanks.

Essentially the direction for Application Color UI theming of see also bug 125217 as needed to do more than current broken Personalization theme (Mozilla style hold over) and the functional if limited LibreOffice color scheme-- of which LibreOffice Dark is just an example of application color theming as alternative to system color theming.
Comment 55 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-02-27 08:02:22 UTC
*** Bug 153579 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 56 Fred 2023-03-01 20:16:12 UTC
It's a good thing I read bug reports first - I came here exactly to find a means to disconnect LO 7.5 from the dark/light theming of the platform underneath because the sudden change caused a number of not-so-computer-savvy people I know to panic.  Such UI changes do cause some confusion.

Although 90% of the discussion is about Windows, in this case it was for MacOS, so thanks for the command line tip, that worked a treat.

Two remarks:

1 - on MacOS, the instructions are different to get to these settings.  I have noticed that quite a few instructions are only ever expressed as per the Windows variant, in MacOS there is a difference between Preferences and any other menu options as they're sort of "outside" the menu tree (so it would be LibreOffice - Preferences instead of Tools - <whatever>)

2 - can we please have this toggle somewhere prominent (probably in the "View" element of Preferences)?

All that said, *I* like it, so thanks :).
Comment 57 Luca 2023-03-03 18:18:40 UTC
(In reply to Fred from comment #56)
> the sudden change caused a number of
> not-so-computer-savvy people I know to panic.  Such UI changes do cause some
> confusion.
...
> 2 - can we please have this toggle somewhere prominent (probably in the
> "View" element of Preferences)?
 
I also think that it should be "light" by default. There is no need to advertise the new feature by causing a panick attack to users (including computer-savvy ones).
Comment 58 Tex2002ans 2023-03-04 04:38:28 UTC
> 2 - can we please have this toggle somewhere prominent (probably in the "View" element of Preferences)?

See the discussion in Bug #153334.

Most likely, there would be an overhaul of:

- View > User Interface

this would allow you to choose all the common settings in a single location:

- UI
--- (Toolbar, Tabbed, etc.)
- Dark Mode / Dark Page
- Icons
- [...]

instead of the current way—spread across 3 or 4 buried options.
Comment 59 John Mills 2023-03-08 12:34:42 UTC
(In reply to Luca from comment #57)
> (In reply to Fred from comment #56)
> > the sudden change caused a number of
> > not-so-computer-savvy people I know to panic.  Such UI changes do cause some
> > confusion.
> ...
> > 2 - can we please have this toggle somewhere prominent (probably in the
> > "View" element of Preferences)?
>  
> I also think that it should be "light" by default. There is no need to
> advertise the new feature by causing a panick attack to users (including
> computer-savvy ones).

I would like to give a +1 to this statement, there should be a single place where these options should be grouped together for simplicity purposes.
Comment 60 Mike Kaganski 2023-03-08 12:50:53 UTC
As mentioned in Commit Notification from comment #29, on 2023-02-08 16:12:22 UTC the new configuration was implemented, and is located since then in Options->LibreOffice->View.

Since 2023-02-15 (comment 51), it is also available in version 7.5.1 (released on 2023-03-02).

So what specifically is wrong with this, given the comment #56 from 2023-03-01:
> 2 - can we please have this toggle somewhere prominent (probably in the
> "View" element of Preferences)?

... and comment #59 from 2023-03-08:
> there should be a single place
> where these options should be grouped together for simplicity purposes.
Comment 61 Buovjaga 2023-03-08 16:03:00 UTC
*** Bug 154068 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 62 Roman 2023-03-08 17:20:14 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 63 Roman 2023-03-08 17:21:47 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 64 Roman 2023-03-08 17:23:42 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 65 V Stuart Foote 2023-03-08 17:30:22 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 66 Roman 2023-03-08 17:36:39 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)
Comment 67 Mike Kaganski 2023-03-09 05:43:55 UTC
(In reply to Buovjaga from comment #61)
> *** Bug 154068 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Since bug 154068 is for 7.5.1.2, and Roman says that the new controls don't work for them, that bug is not a dupe for this.

Discussion about that problem is different, and should be done in that bug, not here. This bug is about *introduction* of the control, and it is done and closed.
Comment 68 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-03-09 08:42:12 UTC
Not sure why Lyubomir removed all the "see also"s but I'm putting back in / updating the ones I think are still relevant.
Comment 69 Pedro 2023-03-10 12:53:14 UTC
Could the UNO command that Caolán added to select the Appearance (Light, Dark, System) in Options -> View -> Appearance be also made available in View -> User Interface?

When I read the notes it was not immediately clear where the option was and that was the first place I went to check since this is a User Interface setting and it is easier to reach there than to Options -> View -> Appearance.
Comment 70 Ste 2023-10-16 15:09:39 UTC
I'd like to reopen this as it does not work on Ubuntu 22.04.

Version: 7.6.2.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 56f7684011345957bbf33a7ee678afaf4d2ba333
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.2; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-GB (en_GB.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

Actually I do not even have a darkmode theme in Ubuntu. Let me know if I shall provide more information.
Comment 71 Ste 2023-10-16 15:28:14 UTC
Sorry, the Ubuntu team was Dark. Still I can't change it to light for LO.