How did table styles change and how can I get it back?

[JenniferMurphy]

Grrrrr... For years I have been seeing these styles. I almost always use the blue one on the top.

In the last day or two, I started seeing this, which I consider ugly.

If I open a new sheet in an old workbook with the previous styles, I get the previous styles. But if I open a new workbook anywhere, I get that ugly junk.

Is there a way I can go back to the original styles for all workbooks?

Any idea how this happened? Did I do something accidentally or is this another one of M$FT's infernal "improvements"?

 

[dreid1011]

Check your themes:

Looks like you want the 2nd one in the top row maybe.

 

[JenniferMurphy]

Check your themes:

Looks like you want the 2nd one in the top row maybe.

Thanks, I didn't know about that option. I expected any "themes" about tables to be in the Table Design tab.

If I click on that in the sheet with the ugly colors, I see this. The first one has a frame around it and the table styles match the ones I do not like.

If I click on that in one of the old sheets with the colors I like, I see this. The second one looks like the one that is controlling the colors in those workbooks, but I do not see a frame around it, or any other one, indicating that it is selected.

Do you know what that is about? Just M$FT messing with my head?

 

[JenniferMurphy]

I just noticed that if I explicitly select that theme, then it does get the selection frame.

Makes me wonder what these was really selected before. Maybe something from an earlier version?

 

[JenniferMurphy]

I just noticed another little gotcha. The theme selection apparently applies to the entire workbook. If I change it on one sheet, every table in that workbook gets changes. Is that correct?

Second, new workbooks keep opening up with that first theme selected. How can I set the second one as the default for all new workbooks?

 

[Alex Blakenburg]

Hi Jennifer, unfortunately Microsoft has changed the Office Theme.
The changes include:
• Changing the colour palette (also impacts Tables and Pivot Tables)
Jon Acampora refers to it as the purple monster, since that colour sort of hits you in the face.
• Font from Calibri to Aptos
• Shape default arrow & border thickness from 1 to 1.5pt

You can select the old theme of Office 2013-2022 but to make it the default for new workbooks you would need to save it as an Excel template Book.xltx in your start up folder.
Covered at around the 8min 20sec mark in Jon's video

Web page
New Microsoft Office Theme 2023 - How to Migrate or Revert Back - Excel Campus.

 

[Alex Blakenburg]

The theme selection apparently applies to the entire workbook. If I change it on one sheet, every table in that workbook gets changes. Is that correct?

Yes. Supposed to be one of the benefits of using Themes & Styles.

 

[JenniferMurphy]

Hi Jennifer, unfortunately Microsoft has changed the Office Theme.
The changes include:
• Changing the colour palette (also impacts Tables and Pivot Tables)
Jon Acampora refers to it as the purple monster, since that colour sort of hits you in the face.
• Font from Calibri to Aptos
• Shape default arrow & border thickness from 1 to 1.5pt

You can select the old theme of Office 2013-2022 but to make it the default for new workbooks you would need to save it as an Excel template Book.xltx in your start up folder.
Covered at around the 8min 20sec mark in Jon's video

Web page
New Microsoft Office Theme 2023 - How to Migrate or Revert Back - Excel Campus.

Arrrggg...

I also discovered that the #2 theme is not the same as the one I have been using. Here's a little table with my old theme on the left and the #2 new theme on the right.

This also explains why none of the themes are indicated as selected in my old workbooks. It's not there anymore.

Just another couple of hours wasted on trying to respond to arrogant "improvements" from M$FT. If I could bill them for lost time at even $10/hour, I'd be wealthy.

 

[JenniferMurphy]

Alex, thanks for the Jon Acampora video. That was very helpful, if infuriating. I fear that trying to go back to the old themes is a bit like putting a finger in the dam or trying to brush the tide back with a broom. But I am glad to know that it wasn't something I did accidentally, other than getting hooked on M$FT products in the first place.

That video was 9/13/23, about 10 months ago. He said it was in beta at the time. He also said that he considered several of these little gotchas bugs, especially how much harder it is to go back in Excel than the other Office apps, and hoped that they would be "fixed" before the general release. I could have predicted that one. I guess my copy was updated fairly recently. I only noticed the color changes in Excel in the last few days. I did notice the Calibri to Aptos font change in Outlook quite awhile ago.

Another day, another pain in the ***!

 

[Alex Blakenburg]

When it comes to tables, I have a book.xltx and a sheet.xltx in my start up folder so that if create a new workbook I have my custom table styles there (book.xltx) and if you insert a new sheet in a someone else's workbook I also have the custom style available (sheet.xltx)

You can also make that style the default for new tables.
Just
• create a new workbook.
• Copy the table with your prefered style into the workbook.
• Make the style the default (optional)
• Delete the table
• Save the workbook to your start up folder as Book.xltx
(it is actually slightly easier to copy the whole sheet with the table to the new workbook and then delete the sheet)
Note: After the deletion the style is still in the workbook.