How to apply color themes to a template

About this article

This article explains what the color theme setting is and describes how to set the color theme. It provides examples of the binding syntax in smart templates.

What is the color theme setting?
How to set the color theme setting in a smart template
Color theme examples
Best practice using colors in email elements

Prerequisites

Library and at least one Dynamics module enabled
Templafy Desktop and Office VSTO add-in installed on the PC
Tenant admin/owner access or Space owner access

What is the color theme setting?

The color theme allows controlling the colors available in Office in Design > Colors. The color theme setting can be set dynamically utilizing the binding syntax.

The color theme setting is only supported with files that will be stored in the Template Libraries (Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets Libraries). Assets (Text elements, Email elements, Slides, and Slide elements Libraries) will inherit from the setting upon insertion.

It should be noted that the color theme setting relies on the ColorThemes system data source.

How to set the color theme setting in a smart template

When building the template settings and properties, the Color Theme setting can be utilized to set the colors for the smart template. Setting the Color Theme setting can be achieved by following these steps:

In the Template Designer, navigate to the Advanced tab
Click Add property
Select Color Theme in the Type dropdown
Enter the required binding in Color Theme
Optionally, set an additional option to the setting
- Disable updates: Disallow the setting from being updated after its generation when edited by the user through the document content updater. This option will not be visible if the document content updater is not enabled on the smart template.
Click Add to document
- The Color Theme setting will be added to the smart template

Once the setting has been created, it can be edited or deleted.

Color Theme setting examples

Example 1

Using the Color Theme setting to apply the color theme based on the "BrandedTheme" dropdown question originating from the response form

Binding	{{Form.BrandedTheme.ColorTheme}}
Input	Form.BrandedTheme= "Blue"	Form.BrandedTheme= "Green"
Output	The blue theme will be applied to the template	The green theme will be applied to the template

Example 2

Using the Color Theme setting to apply the color theme based on the "BrandedTheme" form field originating from the user profile

Binding	{{UserProfile.Office.BrandedTheme.ColorTheme}}
Input	UserProfile.Office = "Berlin"	UserProfile.Office = "Paris"
Output	The gray theme will be applied to the template	The blue theme will be applied to the template

Example 3

Using the Color Theme setting together with the DataSources[] function to always apply the same color theme.

Binding	{{DataSources.ColorThemes["Blue"].ColorTheme}}
Output	The blue theme will be applied to the template

Best practice using colors in email elements

When you use the Color Theme setting in email elements, this color theme is not applied in Outlook. Outlook uses it's own color theme.

The color theme of the email element, opened in Word, looks like this:

The color theme of the same email element, opened in Outlook, looks like this:

To be sure that the right color in Outlook is used, use custom colors instead of color theme. The steps to select a custom color are:

Select the text and go to Font Color>More colors from the ribbon in Word.
Select the right color and click on OK.
Repeat these steps for all the colors you want to use.
Using custom colors does not only apply for text, but for everything with a color setting, like shapes, and tables.

When you use custom colors in the email element, the colors in Outlook are equal to the colors in Word, and they look like this:

Articles in this section