how to change font color

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Change themes, fonts, text, and contrast for accessibility

Learn how to change Visual Studio color themes, font colors, text sizes, and extra-contrast colors for ease of use and accessibility concerns.

10/31/2021

how-to

contperf-fy21q1

Visual Studio, color themes

color themes, Visual Studio

60d91ba1-244b-4c43-847f-60b744f1352a

TerryGLee

tglee

jmartens

vs-ide-general

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How to: Change fonts, colors, and themes in Visual Studio

::: moniker range=">=vs-2022"

You can change the fonts and the colors in Visual Studio in several ways. For example, you can change the default dark theme (also referred to as "dark mode") to a light theme, a blue theme, an extra-contrast theme, or a theme that matches your system settings. You can also change the default font and text size in both the IDE and the code editor.

[!TIP] See the We've upgraded the UI in Visual Studio 2022 blog post to learn more about the subtle color contrast ratio adjustments and a new Cascadia Code font we've added to make Visual Studio more accessible for everyone.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range="<=vs-2019"

You can change the fonts and the colors in Visual Studio in many ways. For example, you can change the default blue color theme to the dark theme (also referred to as "dark mode"). You can also select an extra-contrast theme if that best suits your needs. And, you can change the default font and text size in both the IDE and the code editor.

::: moniker-end

Change the color theme

Here's how to change the color theme of the IDE frame and the tool windows in Visual Studio.

::: moniker range=">=vs-2022"

On the menu bar, choose Tools > Options.
In the options list, choose Environment > General.
In the Color theme list, choose either the default Dark theme, the Light theme, the Blue theme, or the Blue (Extra Contrast) theme.

You can also choose to use the theme that Windows uses by selecting Use system setting.

:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/fonts-colors-theme.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Options dialog box where you can change the color theme.":::

[!NOTE] When you change a color theme, text in the IDE reverts to the default or previously customized fonts and sizes for that theme.

[!TIP] Want even more themes to choose from? Check out the wide range of custom themes on the Visual Studio Marketplace. And to see examples of new Visual Studio 2022 custom themes based on VS Code, take a look at the Introducing a collection of new Visual Studio themes blog post.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range="<=vs-2019"

On the menu bar, choose Tools > Options.
In the options list, choose Environment > General.
In the Color theme list, choose either the default Blue theme, the Light theme, the Dark theme, or the Blue (Extra Contrast) theme.

[!NOTE] When you change a color theme, text in the IDE reverts to the default or previously customized fonts and sizes for that theme.
[!TIP] You can create and edit your own Visual Studio themes by using an extension. Choose from either of the following two options, depending on the version of Visual Studio you're using:
- Color Theme Designer for Visual Studio 2019.
- Color Theme Editor for Visual Studio 2017

::: moniker-end

Change fonts and text size

You can change the font and text size for all the IDE frame and tool windows, or for only certain windows or text elements. You can also change the font and text size in the editor, too.

To change the font and text size in the IDE

::: moniker range=">=vs-2022"

On the menu bar, choose Tools > Options.
In the options list, choose Environment > Fonts and Colors.
In the Show settings for list, choose Environment.

[!NOTE] If you want to change the font for tool windows only, in the Show settings for list, choose All Text Tool Windows.
Modify the Font and Size options to change the font and text size for the IDE.
Select the appropriate item in Display items, and then modify the Item foreground and Item background options.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range="<=vs-2019"

On the menu bar, choose Tools > Options.
In the options list, choose Environment > Fonts and Colors.
In the Show settings for list, choose Environment.

[!NOTE] If you want to change the font for tool windows only, in the Show settings for list, choose All Text Tool Windows.
Modify the Font and Size options to change the font and text size for the IDE.
Select the appropriate item in Display items, and then modify the Item foreground and Item background options.

::: moniker-end

To change the font and text size in the editor

::: moniker range=">=vs-2022"

On the menu bar, choose Tools > Options.
In the options list, choose Environment > Fonts and Colors.
In Show settings for list, select Text Editor.
Modify the Font and Size options to change the font and text size for the editor.
Select the appropriate item in Display items, and then modify the Item foreground and Item background options.

::: moniker-end

::: moniker range="<=vs-2019"

On the menu bar, choose Tools > Options.
In the options list, choose Environment > Fonts and Colors.
In Show settings for list, select Text Editor.
Modify the Font and Size options to change the font and text size for the editor.
Select the appropriate item in Display items, and then modify the Item foreground and Item background options.

::: moniker-end

For more information, see the Change fonts and colors for the editor page.

Accessibility options

There are color theme options for you if you experience low vision. You can use a high-contrast option for all the apps and UI on a computer, or an extra contrast option for Visual Studio only.

Use Windows high contrast

Use either of the following procedures to toggle the Windows high contrast option:

In Windows or in any Microsoft application, press the Left Alt+Left Shift+PrtScn keys.
In Windows, choose Start > Settings > Ease of Access. Then, under the Vision section in Windows 10 and later, choose High contrast.

[!WARNING] The Windows high contrast setting affects all applications and UI on the computer.

Use Visual Studio extra contrast

Use the following procedures to toggle the Visual Studio extra contrast option:

On the menu bar in Visual Studio, choose Tools > Options, and then, in the options list, choose Environment > General.
In the Color theme drop-down list, choose the Blue (Extra Contrast) theme, and then choose OK.

To learn more about other Visual Studio accessibility options available to you, see the Accessibility features of Visual Studio page.

[!TIP] If there is an accessibility option for colors or fonts that you think might be useful but isn't currently available in Visual Studio, please let us know by selecting Suggest a feature in the Visual Studio Developer Community. For more information about this forum and how it works, see the Suggest a feature page.

Next steps

To learn more details about all the user interface (UI) elements for which you can change font and color schemes, see the Fonts and Colors, Environment, Options Dialog Box page.