Where is the "Theme" directory?

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Pls. can somebody tell me, where is the "Theme" directory?

i use 1.8.5
i don't have any thing like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino"
i couldn't find any directory which calls "Theme"

thankyou.

2

It's under the lib subfolder of your Arduino IDE installation folder.

3

:o
Where is it?
i use win10
and couldn't find it.
windows installs the ide
and i don!t know where is it?

4

Are you using the Windows App Store version of the Arduino IDE?

5

When i try to download the ide. The Windows App Store installs automaticly.
:frowning:

6

Windows Apps are hidden away in some read only folder so you won't be able to edit the theme with the Windows App Store version of the Arduino IDE. You need to uninstall it and then install the proper version of the Arduino IDE, which you can download from:

Click on either the "Windows Installer" link or the "Windows ZIP file for non admin install" link. Don't click on the "Windows app Requires Win 8.1 or 10" link or the "Get" button.

7

i will try
Thank you

8

I regret installing the IDE from the Windows App Store for this reason. I don't want to lose the time I spent setting up the IDE with the libraries I need and the board manager. I did things I don't even remember to get everything working so I'll just have to stick with the searing white background. Arduino should withdraw from the trash Windows App Store that makes the installation folder inaccessible.

9

I should mention that the Arduino IDE does support the installation of themes to the sketchbook folder. Although it's a bit more initial effort for people who only want to make some modifications to the stock theme, this is actually far superior in the long run because any modifications you make to the theme in the Arduino IDE installation folder are lost every time you update the IDE, while the theme in the sketchbook folder will not be affected by IDE updates.

You have two options for installing themes to the sketchbook, direct installation or installation as .zip files.

I'll provide instructions for both options below;

Direct installation

This installation option is best if you are going to use a single custom theme.

  1. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
  2. Take note of the path shown in the "Sketchbook location" field.
    This is the location of your "sketchbook folder".
  3. Click the Cancel button.
  4. Select File > Quit from the Arduino IDE menus.
  5. Open the sketchbook folder in your file browser.
    If you are using Windows, this would be File Explorer (AKA Windows Explorer).
  6. Create a subfolder in your sketchbook folder named theme.
  7. Put the theme directly into the theme folder you created.

The folder structure should look like this:

<sketchbook folder>
|_ theme
   |_ syntax
   |   |_ etc...
   |_ theme.txt
   |_ etc...

.zip file installation

This installation option is best if you want to switch between multiple custom themes, or if you are using a pre-made theme that supports this installation method.
The second option is to put the theme in a .zip file, then put that in the theme subfolder of the sketchbook folder.

  1. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
  2. Take note of the path shown in the "Sketchbook location" field.
    This is the location of your "sketchbook folder".
  3. Click the Cancel button.
  4. Select File > Quit from the Arduino IDE menus.
  5. Open the sketchbook folder in your file browser.
    If you are using Windows, this would be File Explorer (AKA Windows Explorer).
  6. Create a subfolder in your sketchbook folder named theme.
  7. Put the theme .zip file directly into the theme folder you created.
  8. Start the Arduino IDE.
  9. Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
  10. Select the theme from the File > Preferences > Theme menu.
  11. Select File > Quit from the Arduino IDE menus.
  12. Start the Arduino IDE.
    The theme you selected from the menu will now be active.

The folder and .zip file structure should look like this:

<sketchbook folder>
|_ theme
    |_ MyCoolTheme.zip
        |_ syntax
        |   |_ etc...
        |_ theme.txt
        |_ etc...

There is a sort of tricky thing about this installation option. The theme must be in the root of the .zip file, NOT in a subfolder. Some .zip utilities make that difficult or even impossible (especially the macOS one), but a Windows user won't have any difficulty:

  1. Select all the files of the theme in File Explorer.
  2. Right click on the selected files.
  3. Select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder from the context menu.

The awesome thing about this option is it allows you to have multiple themes installed (each in its own .zip file). You can chose which one you prefer via the "Theme" menu of the Arduino IDE's File > Preferences dialog. This menu will include the option to select the "Default theme", which is the one installed with the IDE.

Let's say you had two themes, one you wanted to show up in the Theme menu as "MyCoolTheme" and another you wanted to show up as "MyOtherCoolTheme", the folder structure should look like this:

<sketchbook folder>
|_ theme
    |_ MyCoolTheme.zip
    |   |_ syntax
    |   |   |_ etc...
    |   |_ theme.txt
    |   |_ etc...
    |_ MyOtherCoolTheme.zip
        |_ syntax
        |   |_ etc...
        |_ theme.txt
        |_ etc...
10

I bookmarked it thanks, still working on that html news reader thing.

11

@pert Thank you!