Easily Create Office 2007 Document Themes with Open XML Theme Builder

If you’ve been itching to finally create a consistent theme for all of your Office 2007 documents (Word, PowerPoint, etc.) then the Open XML Theme Builder (free, open-source) from Microsoft’s Codeplex might just be what you’re looking for.

Using this application, you can instantly choose your (or your company’s):

• default theme colors (text/background/hyperlink/accent, etc.)
• major and minor fonts
• line styles (color, weight alignment, etc.)
• fill styles (solid/gradient, tint/solid, etc.)
• effect styles (shadows, bevels, etc.)
• background styles (solid fill, gradient fill, rotation, etc.)

Here are some screenshots (click to enlarge) of the various theme objects that can be tweaked using this program:

Colors and Fonts:

Line Styles:

Fill Styles:

Effect Styles:
 

Background Styles:

As is apparent from the screenshots above, there’s a ridiculous amount of items to tweak and customize so it might be better to open an existing theme and tweak it instead of starting from scratch.  If you’ve currently got Office 2007 installed, you can find quite a few default themes buried here: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Document Themes 12.”  (Of course, you need to replace that drive letter with the drive letter on your computer that contains your Office installation.)

This is a great tool to have, especially in a business environment, if you want to present a consistent theme throughout the documents you share internally and externally.

Source: MSDN Blogs [alspiers]
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“The Open XML Theme Builder is a tool that helps with the creation of theme files (*.thmx) that encapsulate the visual appearance and formatting of a document in order to help create a better looking document. Theme files can be used by Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007, Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007, and Microsoft® Office Word 2007.”
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