dark/night mode is essential

Nowadays a dark or night mode is a necessary feature IMO.

1,127 votes

Daniel shared this idea · August 09, 2017 · Flag idea as inappropriate… · Admin →

Completed ·

AdminPhilip Loh (Outlook Web Advocate, Outlook.com) responded · July 25, 2018

It is my greatest pleasure to share this piece of news with you: Dark Mode is here, on the new Outlook.com!

What is Dark Mode?
Dark Mode is a more-pleasant way to read your Outlook.com email if you prefer interfaces that are less bright or if you are in a low-light environment. Dark Mode is available on the new Outlook.com experience (formerly known as the Outlook.com Beta experience) only.

How do I turn it on?
To turn on Dark Mode, open the Quick Settings panel by selecting the Gear icon at the top of your screen. The option to enable Dark Mode is near the top of the panel, immediately under Theme selection. If your browser is unable to support Dark Mode, consider using Microsoft Edge.

Why is Dark Mode not a theme?
When we designed Dark Mode, we debated having it exist in Outlook.com as a theme. We quickly concluded that the way most people would expect themes to work and the way Dark Mode works were fundamentally different. Also, we imagine that there would be a dark experience for all available themes in the future, so having Dark Mode be a separate toggle would facilitate that. Plus, this is consistent with many other applications that have a dark mode.

Will Dark Mode support themes?
Dark Mode only supports the default blue theme right now.

Why does my reading pane have a dark background for email messages I receive?
One of the most crucial principles we had when designing Dark Mode was to minimize the amount of eye strain that people felt. Many email clients on the web today advertise a dark mode, but we learned from interviews with others and our own usage that having the reading pane be on-light while the rest of the interface was left on-dark often made the experience worse than if the full screen were left on-light.

For 2017’s Halloween Theme, we experimented with placing a light gray background in the reading pane. While that resulted in a decrease in eye strain, the design wasn’t ultimately one that we liked for various reasons. We iterated on this problem a couple more times before landing on the solution that you now see, where email messages that you receive are recolored in a secret way that preserves the readability of the original message and preserves the intent of the original sender.

How do I see the original formatting?
You can see any email message that you receive in the original formatting by using the “Turn on the lights” button.

Thank you so much for your patience and support. We hope you love this!

>> Philip.

Show previous admin responses (4)

Working on it ·

AdminPhilip Loh (Outlook Web Advocate, Outlook.com) responded · July 03, 2018

Thanks for your continual support of Outlook Web. We’ve actually been working on Dark Mode for a few months now and you can expect this in the product soon.

One reason for the delay is our insistence that we deliver the best Dark Mode of any leading email client (you’ll understand when you see it, I guarantee). The sneak preview you saw last year at Halloween was a prototype that required a lot more work to be ready for prime time. We’ve redesigned the colors and code multiple times and are proud to enter the final stretch.

Like you, we eagerly await the day this is finally available to the public. I am elated to announce that that day is very soon.

Planned ·

AdminPhilip Loh (Outlook Web Advocate, Outlook.com) responded · November 14, 2017

Update November 13:

Hey, this is Philip at Outlook, and I am personally responsible for some of the fun features you’ve been seeing, including the special theme around Halloween time (I personally call it “spooky mode”). I am pleased to inform that we are planning on providing dark themes in Outlook.com — in fact, thanks to your overwhelming support, my team is super excited to do it and can’t wait to turn the lights off again. There are a few loose ends that we need to tie up before making the feature available (for example, you’d want this to work when you’re in the Outlook.com Calendar too, right?)

Rest assured that we will see this done, even if we have to work in the shadows (that’s just night mode imagery, not literal). While waiting, please keep using Outlook.com, and feel free to reach out with any comments.

P.S.: I promise there is no trick, only a treat!

Under review ·

AdminPhilip Loh (Outlook Web Advocate, Outlook.com) responded · October 27, 2017

Update October 27:

We are still considering a dark mode for Outlook.com. However, relatedly, you can sign into Outlook.com today and see a Halloween surprise for a limited time.

We look forward to your continued support!

Under review ·

Lynn Ayres from Outlook responded · August 10, 2017

Thanks for your feedback on the Outlook.com beta! We are considering a dark mode and will update this feedback item if/when it becomes in-plan.

390 comments

An error occurred while saving the comment

Fanny Rémi commented · January 19, 2021 00:21 · Flag as inappropriate

Hire a verified hacker service. visit https://globalhackersteam.com

Submitting...
Miriam Alberto commented · December 05, 2020 20:52 · Flag as inappropriate

Hello everyone, Get the best parental app https://spydetections.com

Submitting...
Bruno Araujo commented · May 28, 2020 13:55 · Flag as inappropriate

We got it finally!!! Would tell my friends from https://celltrackingapps.com/remote-controlling-android-phone/ !

Submitting...
pramod putel commented · April 27, 2020 10:29 · Flag as inappropriate

jiophone dark

Submitting...
Jeff commented · July 18, 2019 01:15 · Flag as inappropriate

Dark mode was working yesterday and it isn't working today. I toggled it of and back on and it's still not working. I'm on Chrome 75.

Submitting...
David Perianza Niño commented · July 17, 2019 19:07 · Flag as inappropriate

Dark mode

Submitting...
Revenge BM commented · July 17, 2019 07:18 · Flag as inappropriate

like an easy on the eyes contrast mode

Submitting...
Anonymous commented · July 14, 2019 10:56 · Flag as inappropriate

Get that.

Submitting...
Anonymous commented · June 15, 2019 16:49 · Flag as inappropriate

Dark mode

Submitting...
Anonymous commented · June 15, 2019 16:48 · Flag as inappropriate

Please dark mode

Submitting...
Oleg Pro.v. commented · March 05, 2019 05:44 · Flag as inappropriate

night mode on schedule

Submitting...
Louisa Doble commented · February 28, 2019 18:37 · Flag as inappropriate

Dark mode gone!!! Please bring it back.

Submitting...
Fernando commented · October 26, 2018 08:50 · Flag as inappropriate

It would be useful to see a more agile Microsoft, one that actually fixes things while one is still alive. Took them what, almost 6 years since they broke DPI scaling in Windows to fix again, and it just takes them ages to have a proper black theme/setting/whatever. It's a pain to have a white background still on the desktop email client - not everyone likes to use the cloud-based interface... When can we see proper black theme/setting/whatever on Outlook desktop app? I'm 51, would be helpful to have this available sometime this decade still. If you guys already have that on the web version (haven't tried, don't use it), shouldn't be hard to have it in the desktop client, right?

Submitting...
R Riggs commented · September 16, 2018 10:27 · Flag as inappropriate

YES! YES! YES! To the Dark Mode. Hit'n the G-Spot baby!!! :)

Submitting...
Anas Moustafa commented · August 29, 2018 01:01 · Flag as inappropriate

Not able to turn the dark mode on ?

i can not find the option on this procedure( open the Quick Settings panel by selecting the Gear icon at the top of your screen. The option to enable Dark Mode is near the top of the panel, immediately under Theme selection)

would you please explain how i can see the option ??

Submitting...
Sam commented · August 14, 2018 15:48 · Flag as inappropriate

Email site does not work, please fix it.

Submitting...
Brown, David commented · August 02, 2018 15:41 · Flag as inappropriate

Is this available for just personal Outlook.com and not Office 365?

Submitting...
Jim Lewis commented · July 25, 2018 21:41 · Flag as inappropriate

Agree with Andrew Truckle. It would be nice to have draft REPLIES appear in Dark Mode as well. Perhaps the regular Black on White appearance is intended to alert the user that one is still working with an UNSENT draft but, hey, why not have a basically different Dark Mode appearance for a DRAFT rather than going back to blinding (battery-consuming) WHITEOUT mode.

Submitting...
Ravi Bhikhie commented · July 25, 2018 20:24 · Flag as inappropriate

****, for the first time in my 35 years of anything, Microsoft implemented a feature I requested! Good going.

Submitting...
Scott Farriss commented · July 25, 2018 16:20 · Flag as inappropriate

Seriously.....still no dark theme? You guys do know this is 2018, right?

Submitting...