How to get categories colors back to bright shades instead of pastels on a mac?

Currently, the information provided does not specify how to change the category colors from pastels to bright shades in Outlook on a Mac. The Outlook object model allows users to define color categories, but the specific options for adjusting the brightness of these colors are not detailed in the available context.

You may want to check the Outlook settings or preferences on your Mac to see if there are options available for customizing the appearance of category colors. Alternatively, you can look for updates or support documentation from Microsoft that might address this issue specifically for Mac users.

References:

• Color categories
• Get and set categories

Hi @Joycejohnson,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A, and thank you so much for reaching out to us.

I completely understand how important clear, vibrant category colors can be for organizing your calendar and emails. Based on my research and testing, the pastel color palette you’re seeing is part of a recent design update for New Outlook for Mac. I tested this on my end, and also have the same issue as you:

Unfortunately, as I checked, there isn’t currently an option to change back to the bold colors in this version.

One workaround that may help is switching back to Classic Outlook, where the original bright colors are still available. I tested this on my end, and the colors remained bold there.

As a forum moderator, I don’t have the ability to change this feature, but I did find a Microsoft feedback thread discussing this exact concern. I highly recommend visiting that thread, voting it up, and sharing your feedback. The more voices we have, the more likely the engineering team will prioritize a fix.

Thank you for your understanding.

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