Saving Themes in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Why Save a Theme?
How to Save Themes In PowerPoint
Saving the Themes file in Microsoft Word and Excel

Why Save a Theme?

Similar to PowerPoint 2007 (also Word and Excel), PowerPoint 2010 uses a variety of built-in Themes that are installed by default. In PowerPoint, you can find these in the Design tab of the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 1.

It's a good idea to learn how you can save individual Theme files for several reasons:

Customizing

You might want to customize the Theme in PowerPoint 2010 by changing the Theme Colors, Theme Fonts, etc., or you may want to add new Slide Layouts. By the time you are done customizing any Theme, it may no longer look like its original state! That's one good reason to save your Theme file before you play with it.

Sharing

Or you may have customized the Theme file to perfection, and it's so nice now that you want to save it as a file that you can share with others.

Backup

You can just save your favorite Theme as a backup, so that it is safe.

Use it within Theme Builder

You might want to open a THMX file in Theme Builder to edit and fine-tune it to your requirements.

How to Save Themes In PowerPoint

Follow these steps to save an active Theme as a THMX file:

1. Open or create a presentation in PowerPoint 2010. Even a single slide blank presentation will work. Just make sure you apply the Theme that you want to save.
2. Now access the Design tab of the Ribbon, and click the downward pointing arrow next to the Themes gallery to view it in dropdown mode (see Figure 2).
3. 
   Figure 2: Themes gallery in dropdown mode
3. Now select the Save Current Theme option, as shown in Figure 3.
4. 
   Figure 3: Save Current Theme option selected
4. This opens the Save Current Theme dialog box (see Figure 4). Here, you can provide the new name, and choose a destination folder to save the Theme (.THMX) file.
5. 
   Figure 4: Save Current Theme dialog box
5. Click the Save button and you're done.

Saving the Themes file in Microsoft Word and Excel

Themes can also be saved from within Microsoft Word and Excel (version 2010) in the same way it is done in PowerPoint. In both of these programs, Themes are found in a tab location different from that of PowerPoint. Follow these steps to save the current Theme in Microsoft Word or Excel 2010:

1. Open (or create) a Word document or Excel spreadsheet/worksheet and apply the Theme that you want to save.
2. Now access the Page Layout tab of the Ribbon, and click the Themes button as shown in Figure 5 to reveal the Themes gallery.
3. 
   Figure 5: Themes Gallery
3. Now click the Save Current Theme option as shown in Figure 5 above. This will open the Save Current Theme dialog box (refer to Figure 4 above). Provide a name and location to save the new Theme (.THMX) file.

Back

Related Links: Applying Theme Colors and Theme Fonts in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows | Theme Builder