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Change color of Classic Explorer Bar #361
Description
I'd like to change the color of Classic Explorer Bar to match the color scheme of the Dark Mode of Windows 10.
Maybe a color option on the Settings wound suffice.
Thanks
Reacted by adonios77, Xites, K, Shtiliyan Karamfilov, M. Danne Febrian, Caedus, Mo, romanad and Robbie
Activity
artofwalls commentedon Jun 3, 2020
Me too!
The toolbar and the status bar look horrible on the Dark Mode.
Also the scroll bars in the folder pane
adonios77 commentedon Jun 27, 2020
I have the same problem. (white background is a big problem to my eyes)
I would be grateful if someone could show me where to start.
I just got an idea: I haven't tried experimenting (yet) with "ResourceHacker" or "UniExtract". Is it possible to make it with one of these?
artofwalls commentedon Jun 27, 2020
Do you mean hacking Open-Shell to change the colours? I believe is not an easy task. It is not just a harcoded colour definition but several ones: the background of the task bar, the characters in the task bar, the background of the status bar, the characters in the status bar, the scroll bars, the scroll bars background, the arrows, the arrows background, etc...
And you would be just changing to one hardcoded set of colours to another hardcoded one. I think the correct way would be for Open Shell to implement awareness of the colours the system is using and adapt dynamically to it. To ask for a palette instead of imposing a fixed one. I don't know how this is done but I'm sure there must be a system compliant way to adapt third party apps to light or dark theme (or any other theme the OS is using). When Open Shell was first programmed, there was no Dark Theme so the grey was OK but Windows interface changes and Open Shell should adapt to those changes as well as it adapts to changes in the Start Menu and other aspects that affect its functionality.
bonzibudd commentedon Jul 6, 2020
I believe that the color is simply using the background "3d" color embedded in the visual style, but may just be the 3d color controllable in the classic WindowMetrics registry key.
itsdoreiku commentedon Oct 4, 2020
Still waiting on this.
ThumpieBunnyEve commentedon Oct 29, 2020
No interest in fixing this? no advice as to where or what to edit on our own? No direction for DIY'ers?
Open office Still doesn't respect system-wide theme preference.
#386 Opinion: said it most clearly i think. This issue may be older but feels less eloquently expressed then #386 #386
Where should we look to manually edit this ourselves until such time as it can be made a standard gui feature or plugin accessible? Both the status bar, and the OpenShell Explorer bar, disrespect the system-wide theme preference of windows 7/8/10. And clash-with/fail-to-comply-with accessibility mode settings / visual theme settings for photo sensitive and handycapped individuals.
cha0sbuster commentedon Jun 13, 2021
Nothing? Still?? Dark mode came out 2 years ago, guys. I don't want to have to pick between this and not burning my eyes on Windows Explorer
blackcrack commentedon Jun 14, 2021
@cha0sbuster : Open Source, no pay support, Community Program and bring in patches.. what have you not understand with this ?! Commooooonn, you can't not be so dump ?! You would disappoint me Brooooo ...
DCaedus commentedon Feb 5, 2022
Could we have this implemented please? I love Classic Explorer toolbar, it's so useful, I just wish it had dark mode support.
Schleifenkratzer commentedon Jan 1, 2023
It is the only reason I am not using it
C-O-dE commentedon Jan 21, 2023
just found this gem of an app, but I use file explorer way to much to ignore this glaring eye sore, and not encouraged that this was posted nearly 3 years ago and still no efforts to correct it
DCaedus commentedon Jan 22, 2023
It seems to be working correctly for me on W11, not sure if intentional or not,
C-O-dE commentedon Jan 24, 2023
your settings are not the same/default. Just did a test on a fresh W11 and got the same result as I did on 10 with the installers default settings
Schleifenkratzer commentedon Feb 6, 2023
mind giving us access to your registry for comparison?
29 remaining items
DartVanya commentedon Feb 3, 2025
I synced fork with upstream and recompilled the setup. You can redownload.
artofwalls commentedon Feb 3, 2025
That's great! thank you very much!
But still, when running the installer it doesn't work because it says a newer version is already installed and exists. I guess it is because the version number is the same. I can save my prefs, uninstall the old one, install the new one and reload the prefs, But I think you should change the version number to 4.4.1001 or something like that so the installer can do all that stuff automatically.
B0IIE commentedon Mar 19, 2025
I don´t quite understand how to "use" your fork. I installed it over my existing settings but nothing in the skin seems to be changed. I also can´t find a corresponding seeting in Settings for Classic Explorer 4-4-1000. What am I doing wrong.
artofwalls commentedon Mar 19, 2025
I exported my settings, unistalled the official version, installed the fork and then reloaded the settings. It worked for me. It doesn't hurt to give a try.
B0IIE commentedon Mar 20, 2025
I just tried it again and only installed DartVanya's version over the existing one and it worked. I had to forceclose the explorer though as the installer wasn't able to.
kachamaka commentedon May 23, 2025
Will this be supported for Windows 10 as well?
DartVanya commentedon May 23, 2025
Windows 10 is supported
#361 (comment)
Balfa commentedon May 26, 2025
@DartVanya would really love to see a PR back into this repo if possible 😬
xFat1 commentedon Aug 2, 2025
Please do the same for the current version 4.4.197.
Add dark mode support to Classic Explorer
Add dark mode support to Classic Explorer
Add dark mode support to Classic Explorer
Add dark mode support to Classic Explorer
Add dark mode support to Classic Explorer toolbar and status bar (#2553)