How to Use Dark Mode in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader (PC & Mac)

Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader don’t have a formal Dark Mode as Microsoft Word does. However, you can create your own Dark Mode by changing the color of the interface and the page background color.

Quick Links

How to Change the Color of the Interface
How to Change the Page Background Color

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 100 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. These steps also apply to Acrobat Reader DC. In addition, the steps are similar on PC and Mac. Differences between the two operating systems are noted within the individual steps.

How to Change the Color of the Interface

Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.
Select the View menu.

View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 1. View menu

Select Display Theme from the drop-down menu.

Display Theme option in the View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 2. Display Theme option

Select Dark Gray from the submenu. (For most users, System Theme and Light Gray will look the same.)

Dark Gray option in the View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 3. Dark Gray option

The interface (but not the page) should change to dark gray.

Dark Gray Display Theme in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 4. Dark Gray display theme

Continue to the next section if you want to match the page background color to the Dark Gray theme or change it to another color.

How to Change the Page Background Color

Select the Edit menu on a PC (figure 5) or the Acrobat menu on a Mac (figure 6).

Edit Menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 5. Edit menu (PC)

Acrobat menu in Adobe Acrobat on Mac — Figure 6. Acrobat menu (Mac)

Select Preferences from the drop-down menu.

Preferences option in the Edit menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 7. Preferences option

Select Accessibility in the Categories menu in the Preferences dialog box.

Accessibility category in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 8. Accessibility category

Select Replace Document Colors.

Replace Document Colors option in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 9. Replace Document Colors option

Select Use High-Contrast colors and then select an option from the High-contrast color combination menu.

- Green text on black
- Yellow text on black
- White text on black
- Black text on white

High-Contrast Color options in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 10. High-contrast color options

(Alternative Option) Select Custom Color.

Custom Color option in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 11. Custom Color option

a. Select a new color from the Page Background menu.

Page Background menu in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 12. Page Background menu (PC)

Page Background menu in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat on Mac — Figure 13. Page Background menu (Mac)

b. Select a new color from the Document Text menu.

Document Text menu in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 14. Document Text menu (PC)

Document Text menu in t he Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat on Mac — Figure 15. Document Text menu (Mac)

Pro Tip: Additional Color Options on a PC

You may have noticed that Mac users have many more color options than do PC users in the Page Background menu (see figures 12 and 13) and Document Text menu (see figures 14 and 15).

For additional customization options, PC users can select Other Color in the Page Background or Document Text menu to open an advanced Color dialog box.