14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is working on a dark theme for File Explorer in Windows 10, but the project advances quite slowly and the implementation seemed rather unpolished in its early days.
But the release of Windows 10 build Insider preview build 17686 brings substantial improvements in this regard, with File Explorer looking more refined when configured to use the dark theme. There are no gray parts across the UI, as it was the case in the previous builds, and when mixed with Sets, which brings tabs all across the operating system, everything seems to look pretty good.
The screenshot you see here was posted on Twitter by Microsoft’s Jen Gentleman, but anyone can try out the more polished dark theme in File Explorer right now in build 17686.
Further improvements on their way to Windows 10
To enable the dark theme, you have to head over to Settings > Personalization > Colors > Choose your default app mode > Dark. When this feature is enabled, the dark theme is enabled across Windows 10 altogether, as Microsoft isn’t yet offering dedicated options just for its file manager.
These visual improvements certainly come at the right time, as Apple itself has prepared a dark theme facelift for its desktop operating system as well. macOS Mojave will land with a built-in dark theme later this year, and a preview build that’s currently available for developers shows that Apple has spent quite a lot of time to get it right.
As for Windows 10 users, the dark theme in File Explorer will become available for everyone with the release of the Redstone 5 update in the fall. Further improvements are projected to be implemented until then, so the interface that you see here isn’t yet completely finished, with more smaller touches to be rolled out in the coming months.