How can I change the highlight color of selected rows or cloumns?
I’m not talking about selected cells in a sheet but the default color when you select a row or column.
It seems like it should be a pretty basic feature, but I can’t find the place to make the change.
Thanks!
It depends on what version of LibreOffice you have. In versions prior to 25.2 the highlight colour is determined by the colour set in the operating system for highlight colour. This is a user setting for most operating systems except for Windows versions after 7.
Don’t forget that for added visibility there is now View > Column/Row Highlighting which will intersect highlighting at the current cell.
In LibreOffice 25.2 to change the appearance colours you need a LibreOffice theme that is not Automatic. Click Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Appearance and select a preset theme or create a new one. Click OK and allow LibreOffice to restart
Thank you EarnestAI!
The magic was that I needed to choose a theme that was NOT Automatic!
I chose a different theme and then went to Customization / Accent Color and Voila!!!
I had searched all over for info on how to do this and your reply is the only one to explain it well.
Thanks!!
I have horrible vision, so I have chosen High Contrast mode and a pure black cell background with white text. It works great except that the default color of a newly entered cell is glaring white:
As soon as I click in the cell to begin typing it turns pure black.
I just tried the Calc Cell focus and Accent color settings and nothing changed. Does High Contrast override those? I definitely have a non Automatic custom theme…
Is there any way to have the background dark before I type into it?
And to have the accent of things like the Save Document choice be darker so the text is readable?
Libre 25.2.1.2 on Arch Linux…
From help (my italics): Accessibility
"High-contrast is an operating system setting that changes the system colour scheme to improve readability. You can decide how LibreOffice uses the high-contrast settings of the operating system.
Cell borders and shadows are always shown in text colour when high-contrast mode is active. The cell background colour is ignored then."
You could disable High Contrast in LibreOffice and instead choose, or create, a dark theme to suit. The Dark Grey theme, Appearance set to Dark, with Document background set to Automatic might suffice. The icon theme for High Contrast is Sifr, you can change to that in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View
I know how to set the cell borders, background (while I’m typing in it) and text color. They are all set nicely already.
My question is how to change the fill color of a cell that has just been clicked in, or moved to, before I type anything in it or double click in it. Maybe that property is the “cell shadow”? “Cell borders and shadows are always shown in text colour when high-contrast mode is active.” Does the “shadow” disappear as soon as the cell is active via typing or double click?
I’ve tried many times over the years I’ve used Libre to make a high contrast theme without the “High-contrast” system setting, but they all fail in some files, and change with each new Libre version. “High-contrast” is as close as I’ve come to something my lousy vision can cope with.
You cannot if LibreOffice High Contrast is chosen; I refer you to my previous comment (#5) with link to Help.
Otherwise it is Accent colour as in comment 2
Following your advice, I disabled High Contrast on my main Linux version.
Here is a list of the screenshots I took as I struggled with the result:
In Arch Linux Libre 25.2.1.2:
Options → LibreOffice → Accessibility → High Contrast (already enabled)
(My calendar background shading is white until clicked)
In Raspi Bookworm Libre 7.4.7.2:
Options → LibreOffice → Accessibility → Automatically detect system High Contrast (unchecked)
My calendar background shading is dark immediately…
In Libre 25.2.1.2:
My calendar background shading white until clicked
In Libre 7.4.7.2:
Options → LibreOffice → View → Icon Theme → Theme = Automatic (Elementary)
In Libre 25.2.1.2:
Options → LibreOffice → Accessibility → High Contrast → Disable
My calendar background shading dark, but text invisible except for a few squiggles
Options → LibreOffice → Appearance → Themes = Automatic (dark)
(No color options available) Add Dark Gray theme…
Font Color shows as black
Restart
My calendar background shading dark on first view…
Document Background shows as white in settings, black on screen ???
Font Color shows as black, white on screen
After closing Tools, My calendar background shading dark, but text invisible except for a few squiggles
Set Font Color to white
My calendar looks good
Create new spreadsheet - glaring white with pale gray text and mid gray shading
Set Document Background to black
Background black but active cell still pale gray on black
Set Font Color to white
Newly created document looks good - white on black
Somehow I suspect loading old files or new Libre versions will put me back into this struggle… But at least the files I use every day look good right now!
Is “Options → LibreOffice → Accessibility → High Contrast” the same function as “Options → LibreOffice → Accessibility → Automatically detect system High Contrast” was in older versions? Depending on the OS settings? That might explain the difference between Arch and Debian…
I wasn’t suggesting that you turn off High Contrast in the operating system, only Disable it in LibreOffice (Tools > Options > Accessibility) and then make settings to suit.
LibreOffice 7.4.7.2 does not have a fully implemented Dark scheme, best to upgrade
