Sharing a Windows Theme with a Friend or Coworker

Written by Barry Dysert (last updated October 1, 2018)

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According to Wikipedia, a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details. A theme usually comprises a set of shapes and colors for the graphical control elements, the window decoration, and the window. Windows comes with some built-in themes, and you can create your own. You can export and share your custom themes; you cannot share the built-in themes.

The way to share your themes is to export all their parts into a file, make the file available to the person you want to share it with, and they can then import the file to make use of your theme. The steps to do this are as follows.

  1. Press the Windows button and type (without quotes) "Settings"; then press Enter. Windows displays the Settings window
  2. Click the Personalization group (near the center). Windows displays the Personalization section of the Settings window.
  3. At the left side of the window, click on Themes. Windows displays the Themes option of the Personalization section.
  4. Right-click the theme you want to export. Windows displays a Context menu.
  5. Select the "Save theme for sharing" option. Windows prompts you for where you want the file saved.
  6. Use the controls in the dialog box to select a location for the file and specify a filename. (You can put it on a shared drive that your colleague can read, or just put it on the desktop so that you can easily mail it to him/her.) The file will have a ".deskthemepack" extension.

Once your colleague has the file for the theme, they simply double-click the file to import it into their system. (They must be running a Windows 10 system, as well.) For them to apply this theme, they go to the Themes tab and select it.

 This tip (13567) applies to Windows 10.

Author Bio

Barry Dysert

Barry has been a computer professional for over 35 years, working in different positions such as technical team leader, project manager, and software developer. He is currently a software engineer with an emphasis on developing custom applications under Microsoft Windows. When not working with Windows or writing Tips, Barry is an amateur writer. His first non-fiction book is titled "A Chronological Commentary of Revelation." ...

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What is eight less than 8?

2018-10-05 17:18:28

David H.

Yes you are correct. I was trying to save a default theme. That was the problem. Thank you.

2018-10-01 12:58:34

Barry

Maybe not. I should have mentioned in the article that it's only possible to save custom themes, not default themes. Are you trying to save a default theme?

2018-10-01 12:49:14

David H.

I believe the process for the newest version of Windows 10 must be different (although I don't know what it is) since the steps provided do not work with my version of Windows 10 v. 1803. When I right click, I am only given the option to delete. (see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. Right Click Context Menu Option

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