I hate Outlook with the Energy Blue theme

I hate the garish Luna theme that Windows XP uses as standard so when the Energy Blue theme was released as part of the Experience Pack for the Tablet PC I jumped on it right away.  I love the Energy Blue theme, it looks elegant and stylish and well, fitting for a Tablet PC.  I have been using it for months now and something about it has been grating on my nerves and today I switched back to Luna.  Shudder.  The problem is the way Outlook appears in the Energy Blue theme.  It is totally grey and lifeless in appearance and just looks horrible, at least to me.  Contrast that with the way Outlook appears in the Luna theme and the difference is night and day.  I live all day every day in Outlook so this is a bigger deal to me than perhaps to most of you but I finally couldn't take it any longer and switched back.  Does anybody know how to make Outlook use the Luna skin under the Energy Blue theme?  Here's the comparison so you can see what I mean (L-R: Energy Blue, Luna):

Comments

[JonGH]

Good call James. I have the Energy Blue theme enabled too and I'd not noticed the difference in Outlook. I guess I don't use it as much as you but even so Outlook is bland. Perhaps WindowBlinds may be a solution.

[jk]

I had a lot of problems with WindowBlinds (TEO for example) so I disabled it.

[JonGH]

Yes, I remember that you mentioned that before. I also have TEO and I'm trying to get WindowsBlinds set up. If I can get it working I'll let you know and post some screenshots.

[Colin Walker]

This has been a huge bugbear of mine ever since it was discovered that you could theme XP. I've not known a single theme from any source actually get Outlook to use the system colours. As such I've always used Luna simply because of this.

There's obviously got to be some way of doing it but if MS don't even get it right in their own theme...!

[Dan Carter]

Dang! You're right... I now have changed back to the Windows XP default theme and am enjoying more color.

Thank you for the tip.

[Perry Reed]

I agree completely! I'm sticking with Energy Blue, but I sure wish there were a way to give Outlook back its colors.

[Nithi Sothilingam]

I have experienced this problem as well and there is an easy fix. Go into Windows Display Properties and to the Appearance tab. Tap the advanced button, and click the first drop down box (select 3D objects). Then use the second drop-down box to choose a light blue colour apply the settings and voila,

[M Freitas]

You should try the Royale Theme - inspired on the MCE Theme with some XP touches. Available from MSFT NZ website. I ahve a screenshot on http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=4569 and link to download there.

[jk]

Mauricio, I believe Royale has the same problem with Outlook. It's been a while since I tested it but I think Outlook onlylooks good in Luna. I wonder if there are some registry values in Outlook that Luna sets?

[Kunal Kundaje]

James, the solution is really simple. :)
I've posted it for you (and anyone else who might be interested) here:
http://kunal.kundaje.net/2005_07_01_archives.php#pl112235551710525804

[JJ]

This doesn't even require hacking with files.

Go to Display Properties -> Appearence -> Advanced, select "3D Objects" as the Item, and change the color to whatever you want, I use Red:188, Green:221, Blue:245.
Whatever color you choose here is what Office will use to render the interface. Note that this will also set the same color to the "Menu" and "Application Background" items. So after doing this you might want to change "Menu" back to white and "Application Background" back to dark grey.

[TechGuy]

However, it will also cause dialog boxes to display that same color that you use for the 3d Objects

[Robins Tomar]

I thought your article to be a step by step procedure for changing my outlook theme, but it is otherwise :-(