Bug 166765 - Setting appearance to light while Windows is in dark mode breaks colors
Summary: Setting appearance to light while Windows is in dark mode breaks colors
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 164392
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.2.3.2 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-05-28 15:43 UTC by krzysztof.lesiak
Modified: 2025-05-28 20:47 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
End result after forcing light mode while Windows is in dark mode (122.71 KB, image/png)
2025-05-28 15:44 UTC, krzysztof.lesiak
Details
Writer in dark mode, same as system (119.47 KB, image/png)
2025-05-28 15:45 UTC, krzysztof.lesiak
Details
Writer in light mode, same as system (125.52 KB, image/png)
2025-05-28 15:45 UTC, krzysztof.lesiak
Details

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Description krzysztof.lesiak 2025-05-28 15:43:32 UTC
Description:
I use Windows in dark mode by default; however, I want LibreOffice to be in light mode because it's a lot more readable that way and I'm used to it.

If I switch Windows to light mode, LibreOffice looks the way I want it to.

If I go back to dark mode and switch LibreOffice appearance to light, suddenly the background color of the page is black, which looks pretty jarring.

I'd expect switching to light to look the same as when the entire OS is set to light, which is not the case here.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Set Windows to dark mode in system settings
2. Open Writer
3. Go to Tools > Options > Appearance and set Appearance to Light
4. LibreOffice will ask for a restart
5. Restart
6. Open Writer

Actual Results:
The page background is black.

Expected Results:
The page background should be white, as if the OS was in light mode.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes

Additional Info:
Version: 25.2.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: bbb074479178df812d175f709636b368952c2ce3
CPU threads: 12; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (10.0 build 26100); UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_DE); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 1 krzysztof.lesiak 2025-05-28 15:44:32 UTC
Created attachment 201012 [details]
End result after forcing light mode while Windows is in dark mode
Comment 2 krzysztof.lesiak 2025-05-28 15:45:14 UTC
Created attachment 201013 [details]
Writer in dark mode, same as system
Comment 3 krzysztof.lesiak 2025-05-28 15:45:33 UTC
Created attachment 201014 [details]
Writer in light mode, same as system
Comment 4 V Stuart Foote 2025-05-28 17:49:44 UTC
Expected users apply an appearance theme extension to get that behavior.

Use the Tools -> Options -> Appearance panel and use the LibreOffice themes'Add more themes' button.

In the Extensions: Color Themes dialog that opens, choose the listed 'Light Application Colors' theme. 

Install, and close the dialog.

Now find the theme in the list box of available themes. The Automatic default and the added 'Light Application Color' select the theme and apply it.  Allow LibreOffice to restart using the pop-up control.

You could test some of the other themes as well if inclined just repeat the steps and pick from the list box.

To revert to following what os/DE provides, select the Automatic theme and restart.

To get fully back to default os/DE color theme (the Light/Dark color scheme) may need to clear user profile.

All of this will change a bit with the 25.8 release in a couple months, but for now the theme extensions will work like that.  Users can test nightly builds against the future release in isolated parallel installs.
Comment 5 V Stuart Foote 2025-05-28 18:10:09 UTC

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 164392 ***
Comment 6 krzysztof.lesiak 2025-05-28 18:29:36 UTC
That expectation is not realistic from a user perspective.

Forum threads like this one (https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/libreoffice-7-5-change-from-dark-mode-to-normal/86841/12) allude to a single switch being there to accomplish toggling between light and dark. It's common in other applications too.

Thanks for the workaround though, I'll give it a try.

Is there a way to follow development on that feature for 25.8? I'm interested in how this is going to work in the future.
Comment 7 V Stuart Foote 2025-05-28 20:47:53 UTC
(In reply to krzysztof.lesiak from comment #6)

> Is there a way to follow development on that feature for 25.8? I'm
> interested in how this is going to work in the future.

Sure, see commits against bug 164970 bug

Nightly Windows builds of master against next release are here:

https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/master/Win-x86_64@tb77-TDF/

 
Install in parallel to your release build IAW these notes:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel/Windows

You're doing a /A administrative install. Self contained so please tweak the program/bootstrap.ini to create the unique $ORIGIN user profile to isolate the test build from your actual installation.