💡 Our Technical Review in summary
Summary
- Microsoft is introducing two new “multi-color” dark themes for SharePoint Online: Dark Teal and Dark Blue.
- These themes are designed to provide modern, high-contrast visual experiences that comply with Microsoft accessibility standards and are optimized for low-light environments.
- The rollout for Targeted Release begins in early January 2026, with General Availability (including GCC, GCC High, and DoD) expected to complete by February 2026.
Impact
- Site Customization: SharePoint Site Owners and Admins will see the new themes under the “Change the look” settings menu.
- Visual Scope: The themes will automatically apply to site headers, footers, section designs, the Text web part, and Design Ideas.
- No Breaking Changes: Existing site themes and custom branding will remain unaffected. The new themes are purely additive.
- Administrative Control: If your organization uses the
Set-SPOHideDefaultThemesPowerShell command to hide out-of-the-box Microsoft themes, these new options will also be hidden by default.
Action Required
- Notification: Inform SharePoint Site Owners and stakeholders about the availability of these new visual options for their sites.
- Review Branding Standards: Determine if these official dark themes align with your corporate branding guidelines for internal or external sites.
- Policy Verification: If you prefer to restrict users to custom-only themes, verify your current configuration of the
Set-SPOHideDefaultThemesSharePoint PowerShell cmdlet. - Documentation: Update internal training materials or help desk documentation to reflect the new “Change the look” options.
Microsoft Official Update
Service: N/A
Category: stayInformed
Severity: normal
Updated December 18, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.
[Introduction]
Coming soon to SharePoint: Site owners and admins will be able to apply two new Microsoft-designed multi-color dark themes. These official themes offer modern dark color palettes with multiple colors combinations, enabling richer visual experiences and consistent branding across sites. Both themes are available out-of-the-box and can be configured via site settings.
This message is associated with Roadmap ID 526788.
[When this will happen:]
- Targeted Release (Worldwide): Rollout begins early January 2026 (previously mid-December 2025), completes January 2026 (previously early January)
- General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): Rollout begins late January 2026 (previously early February), completes February 2026 (previously early February)
[How this affects your organization:]
- Who is affected: SharePoint Site owners and SharePoint admins across all Microsoft 365 environments (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD)
- What will happen:
- Two new Microsoft-designed dark themes (Dark Teal, Dark Blue) will be available out-of-the-box
- Themes can be applied via “Change the look” in site settings
- The themes update site headers, footers, section design, Text web part, and Design Ideas
- Designed for low-light environments and compliant with Microsoft accessibility standards
- No impact to existing themes or site functionality
Note: Previously applied PowerShell settings that disable all out-of-box themes from Microsoft remain effective, and the PowerShell command can still be used to manage the Microsoft theme availability.
[What you can do to prepare:]
- No admin action is required prior to rollout. After rollout:
- Notify site owners and users about the new dark themes
- Encourage exploration of the new options for improved branding and visual comfort
Learn more:
[Compliance considerations:]
No compliance considerations identified, review as appropriate for your organization.
