How to use Custom Theme Colors in German MS Office for Mac 365

TLDR: Save the .xml file to the following path:
/Users/USERNAME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Benutzerinhalte/Designs/Theme Colors/My Custom Color Theme.xml

Most Microsoft Office applications use color themes to change how titles, charts, and diagrams are stylized. Users can edit and save customized color themes as .xml files to share with team members for a consistent visual identity.

The Redmond giant has been changing the file path for custom theme colors over the years and different versions of Microsoft Office for Mac. Moreover the directory name changes, depending on the primary set language.

As a result, a simple Google search for “custom theme color Excel macOS” will yield multiple conflicting instructions, of which most will not work in the German edition.

Here you will find instructions for the recent Office 365 for Mac Version 16.56 (21121100) in German.

There are two different ways to save Custom Color Themes within Office 365 for Mac. Either at the top in the “Benutzerdefiniert” or “Custom” section, or among the other MS Office themes, as seen in the image below.

Two different ways to save Custom Color Themes within Office 365 for Mac

For me, the first way is preferable. The .xml file only has to be copied once for all MS Office applications, and is always at the top of the options to choose from within Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. But some might prefer to have their custom theme amongst the others, therefore I’m posting both ways.

Custom color theme above default themes

To place a custom color theme in the „Benutzerdefiniert“ section, which is always displayed above the MS Office default themes, save it to the following path:

/Users/USERNAME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Benutzerinhalte/Designs/Theme Colors/My Custom Color Theme.xml

When accessed via Terminal this path changes to:

/Users/USERNAME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Themes.localized/Theme Colors/My Custom Color Theme.xml

A mentioned above, this is the path specifically for the German version. I’m assuming that in the English version the path alters to:

/Users/USERNAME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Themes/Theme Colors/My Custom Color Theme.xml

Custom color theme amongst default MS Office themes

The following step-by-step instructions are taken from Geetesh Bajaj’s article in indezine and worked flawlessly for me in Office 365 for Mac Version 16.56 (21121100) under macOS 12.1 Monterey. Note that this must be done separately for Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

Where are Office Themes and Templates Located?

Step 1: Access the Macintosh HD:Applications folder. Locate the Microsoft PowerPoint icon, as shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Microsoft PowerPoint icon

Step 2: Now Ctrl + click (or right-click) this icon, and choose the Show Package Contents option in the resultant menu, as shown in Figure 2, below.

Figure 2: Show Package Contents

Step 3: You will now see the innards of the PowerPoint application! Browse to the Contents:Resources:Office Themes folder, where you will find all the Themes you have been looking for (see Figure 3 below).

Figure 3: Office Themes folder

NOTE: I did not succeed in changing the position of my custom theme among the other MS Office themes. The sorting is not purely alphabetical. Neither changing the file name nor the name tag within the .xml file had any effect on the position. If you find a solution to this, please let me know in a comment.

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