Get your color codes ready
Before you open PowerPoint, have your palette's codes handy. You can create one with our palette generator.
Recent versions of PowerPoint accept hex codes. Older ones only accept RGB values, three numbers from 0 to 255. To convert hex to RGB, use our color converter. For example, #1F6FD1 equals RGB 31, 111, 209.
Apply a color with More Colors
- Select a shape, some text or a text box.
- Open the color menu: Shape Fill, Shape Outline or Font Color, depending on what you want to change.
- Choose More Colors… (in some versions, More Fill Colors…).
- Go to the Custom tab.
- Type the code in the Hex field, if you see it. If not, choose the RGB color model and type the red, green and blue values.
- Click OK.
The color is added to the Recent Colors row in the menu, so you can reuse it on other slides.
You can also use the Eyedropper, available in the color menus of modern versions, to copy a color from an image or another object.
Create your own theme color palette
Theme colors are the presentation's official palette. They appear at the top of every color menu. If you change the theme, every object that uses them updates.
- Go to the Design tab.
- In the Variants group, open the drop-down menu and choose Colors.
- Click Customize Colors….
- Assign your colors: two dark and two light for text and background, six accents (Accent 1 to 6), plus Hyperlink and Followed Hyperlink.
- Type a name for your palette and click Save.
From then on, your palette appears in the list of theme colors, and you can use it in other presentations on the same computer. The accent colors are the ones PowerPoint uses in charts, tables and SmartArt.
Presentation tips
- Use a light background for bright rooms and a dark one for dim rooms.
- Limit the palette to two or three colors plus a neutral.
- Save the boldest color for the key number or idea on each slide.
- Make sure text and background have good contrast. Projectors tend to wash out colors. Check it with our contrast checker.
- Don't rely on color alone to explain something. Add labels or icons for people with color blindness.
- Save the presentation as a template to keep the same colors in the future.