From the time of its launch Windows 10 has been improvising itself in so many ways in various sections. In the updated version of Windows 10, there has been lots of changes in the Personalization section and most significantly added a feature- the resurrection of Windows themes. If you are bored of using the default themes or the limited themes of the store, you can now design and create your own type of custom themes. If you are willing to do this, I am sure that you are desperate to know how to design custom themes in Windows 10. Through this article, you will know it.
Why You Need to Design Custom Themes
If you are a person of your own choice, you might want to design your own theme for your PC. You might be monotonous by seeing the same themes. You may want to try something new. The new Windows 10 creator update has the solution for you. You can design, create, and customize your theme. The most profitable thing of creating custom themes in Windows 10 is that you can change them and can switch between them anytime with just a simple click. You might have several wallpapers which you want to set with your favorite color. The themes will let you switch to it in just one simple click.
Themes in Windows 10
You can do many things with themes in Windows 10. There are many options available.
- You can change themes.
- You can create new themes. (Get the new theme and customize them)
- You can save themes and share them.
- You can delete themes.
How to Change Themes in Windows 10
Firstly, open Settings.
Then, click on Personalization.
Click Themes.
You will see something like “Apply a Theme”. Under this, you will see many themes to apply. Click the one you want to apply for your PC.
You are done. Thus, you can change your custom themes.
How to Create or Design Custom Themes in Windows 10:
You can get new themes and can customize them as you want. Thus, you can design your own custom themes.
Getting a new theme:
Go to Settings.
Click Personalization.
Click Themes.
Just under Apply a Theme, you will see something like Get more Themes in the Store. Click it.
You will found a page like this.
Select the theme you want. Click on Get button to download it.
Now, click the Launch button.
Now, in the list of themes under Apply a Theme, you will see the theme you just downloaded. Select the theme by clicking on it to apply the theme to your PC.
How to Customize Themes
After getting a new theme, you don’t have to limited to the default settings. You can change and customize them as you want.
Like before, go to Settings, Personalization, Themes respectively. Under the Current theme: Custom, you will see four options.
- Background
- Color
- Sounds
- Mouse cursor.
Customize Themes
You can choose your desktop Background, your color, change mouse cursor and sounds.
Background
Click Background. You will find a page like this.
Select the type of desktop background from the drop-down list ( Picture Solid Color, Slide Show).
If you choose Picture from the list, you now have to choose a picture under Choose your Picture.
You can choose from the list or can browse by clicking on the Browse button in your computer to select your favorite picture.
Lastly, you have to choose a fit to choose how the pictures should be displayed. You will see many options under Choose a Fit.
Fill: It does not change the proportions of the image but resizes the image to cover your whole background.
Fit: Like its name, it fits the whole image on the screen.
Stretch: This can distort an image and not at all recommended. It usually changes the proportions of the image to cover your whole screen.
Tile: It will repeat the image as many times as necessary to cover the entire desktop screen
Center: Without resizing, usually it centers the image on the screen.
Span: It’s almost the same as fill. Only If you have more than one monitor, it will stretch the desktop background to cover your entire display.
Now, if you choose Solid color instead of Picture in the drop-down list, you have to choose your background color. Under Choose your Background color, select your favorite color from the options or you can click Custom color to choose a different color.
Again, if you choose Slideshow, you have to choose an album for your slideshow. Select a folder to use it as a source of your pictures. You can set how often the pictures will be changed, can make shuffle on or off and choose a fit. I have described the fit above already.
Color
This color option actually is the accent color that will appear in certain places of your User Interface or UI. This color will appear on the background of Start menu icons, the indicator of taskbar etc. etc.
Click the button Color.
Choose a color from the color options or click Custom color to select a different color. You may also check the box “Automatically pick an accent color from my background. This is an interesting option. This will analyze your current background image and based on the image, change the theme color.
You will see More Options; under it, you will see some extra effects and options.
Transparency effects: It toggles transparency options.
Show accent color: On a variety of additional User Interface (UI) elements, it enables the color you selected.
Default app mode: It uses either a white or black background for system apps.
Mouse cur
Click the mouse cursor.
Go to the Pointer tab. Under Scheme, select a themed set of system cursors from the dropdown list.
If you have downloaded some .ani files for using as cursor replacements, you can use them by clicking on Browse. It will open a folder with cursor replacements.
If in this process, anything goes wrong, you can fix this by clicking the Use default button at any time.
Finally, just click OK and you are done.
Sounds:
Click the Sounds option.
Go to the Sounds tab. You can choose a themed set of sound from the drop-down menu under Sound Scheme.
You can modify or change individual audio sounds also. Choose an event under Program Events.
After choosing an event, you can change the sound for that particular event from the drop-down menu under Sounds. If you want to disable sound for that particular event, choose None.
You can also hear a sound. For that select a sound and click Test button.
To use as your system sounds, if you have .wav files, you can use it by clicking on the Browse button.
When you are done with all of these, click OK.
Thus, you can design and customize your themes very easily.
How to save and share themes:
Like before click Settings, Personalization, and Themes respectively.
You will see a Save Theme button. Click it.
Enter a name for your theme and then, click Save.
You have designed successfully your own custom themes. Once it is done, it will be available in the Apply a Theme list.
You can also share a custom theme package.
In the Theme page, right click on your customized theme and select the option Save Theme for Sharing.
Then, browse to the location where you want to save the package theme.
State or specify the file name.
Lastly, click Save.
After finishing all of these, you will get a file with .deskthemepack extension. You can share the file with your friends through email or drive.
How to Delete Themes
When you don’t like a theme and want to remove it from your theme list, you can delete the theme. Remember you can’t delete the theme which you are currently using. Firstly, switch to another theme, delete the theme. It is the rule if you want to delete the current theme; otherwise, you can delete just normally.
Go to Settings, Personalization, and Themes respectively.
Right-click the theme that you want to delete under Apply a Theme. Then, select Delete. And, your work is done.
Thus, you can change, design, customize, share and delete your themes in windows 10.
Limitations:
It’s true that you can design and customize your own custom themes in Windows 10, but there are some limitations as well. You can’t create a theme fully; you can design and only customize it. Many of the customizing options won’t be saved. This is the shortcoming of the Theme option. We hope that Microsoft will take care of these in its next update.
Summing Up
Now, you don’t have to rely on those boring default themes. For, you have learned how to design custom themes in Windows 10. You can perform many tasks related to the option Theme. Whenever you are willing to customize or change your theme, just follow the above instructions and your work will be done. I wish you all the best.
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