Microsoft brings dark mode to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on macOS Mojave

Apple announced macOS 10.14 Mojave at their annual developers’ conference back in June of this year. The latest update to macOS brought with it a native, system-wide dark mode, along with other improvements to Finder, the desktop, the Mac App Store, and much more. The Cupertino giant made the update available to the general public starting September 25. If you are someone who prefers the new dark mode and also uses Microsoft’s Office apps, there is good news, as the company is bringing dark mode to Office 365 users.

Announced today, build 181029 is heading to Office Insiders in the Fast ring that includes a new dark mode feature for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Additionally, the build also includes a new ribbon with updated icon styling. The icons do look neat, as they adapt to the theme and are consistent across the ribbon. This should reduce strain on the eyes when the app is being viewed in the night or in dimly lit areas.

The update is currently out only for those with an Office 365 subscription that are enrolled in the Fast ring of the Office Insiders Program. The feature will eventually make its way to the wider audience soon. Office 2019 for Mac, the standalone version of Office that was made available late last month may not receive this feature, as that version is a one-time release and does not receive regular feature updates.

The Office apps follow suit in receiving the dark mode treatment along with other Microsoft apps such as OneDrive (on macOS), To-Do (on Windows 10) and Outlook on the Web. The Redmond giant also debuted a dark mode for the File Explorer in the Windows 10 October 2018 update. However, that update was pulled due to various issues, so if you weren’t a seeker who went ahead and updated early, you might have to wait for a bit longer to see it in action.

What do you think of the new dark mode on the Office apps for macOS? Is this something you were looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.