How do I change the text and background colours in Thunderbird
I have gone to 'options', then 'composition'. Have then altered the text colour to black and the background colour to white.----------- would not change, remains with the text colour white and the background colour black. What am I doing wrong ????????????
Chosen solution
Those settings are generally controlled by Themes.
On the toolbar 
then 
and in the Get add-ons tab select "See all complete Themes" by scrolling to the bottom of the page on the far right.
Those settings can also be controlled by custom CSS, but it is not something that is as simple as clicking a setting. It is beyond the skill set of most, but I include some instruction if you want to give it a go
Open your profile folder in explorer. If you do not know where that is,
on the toolbar > Help > Troubleshooting information
Click the show profile button
Close Thunderbird.
Create a new folder in your profile called chrome (it normally does not exist)
Open notepad
in notepad paste in the following
/* Background color CSS for mail list */ treechildren::-moz-tree-row(odd) {
border: 1px solid transparent !important; background-color: #FFFFFF !important; min-height: 18px !important; height: 1.3em !important;
}
treechildren::-moz-tree-row(even) {
border: 1px solid transparent !important; background-color: #F4F4F4 !important; min-height: 18px !important; height: 1.3em !important;
}
Note the #F4F4F4 and #FFFFFF the are hexadecimal numbers that denote the color to be used in the odd and even rows in the list.
This web site will allow you to hover over a colour wheel and get the web safe hexadecimal values to replace those with your chosen colours.
Save the resulting text document to the chrome folder you created earlier naming the file userChrome.css. (Note that the file name is case sensitive.) Start Thunderbird
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (5)
What do you want to change? The colours in messages you send, or the colours of incoming messages? Or the overall colour scheme of Thunderbird?
The setting you mention are for messages you compose.
Modified by Zenos
I'd also suggest you look at Tools|Options|Display|Formatting→Colours.
I would like to change the overall colour scheme of Thunderbird. I have already tried tools-options-display-formatting-colours without success.
Chosen Solution
Those settings are generally controlled by Themes.
On the toolbar then and in the Get add-ons tab select "See all complete Themes" by scrolling to the bottom of the page on the far right.
Those settings can also be controlled by custom CSS, but it is not something that is as simple as clicking a setting. It is beyond the skill set of most, but I include some instruction if you want to give it a go
Open your profile folder in explorer. If you do not know where that is,
on the toolbar > Help > Troubleshooting information
Click the show profile button
Close Thunderbird.
Create a new folder in your profile called chrome (it normally does not exist)
Open notepad
in notepad paste in the following
/* Background color CSS for mail list */ treechildren::-moz-tree-row(odd) {
border: 1px solid transparent !important; background-color: #FFFFFF !important; min-height: 18px !important; height: 1.3em !important;
}
treechildren::-moz-tree-row(even) {
border: 1px solid transparent !important; background-color: #F4F4F4 !important; min-height: 18px !important; height: 1.3em !important;
}
Note the #F4F4F4 and #FFFFFF the are hexadecimal numbers that denote the color to be used in the odd and even rows in the list.
This web site will allow you to hover over a colour wheel and get the web safe hexadecimal values to replace those with your chosen colours.
Save the resulting text document to the chrome folder you created earlier naming the file userChrome.css. (Note that the file name is case sensitive.) Start Thunderbird
Modified by Matt
Thanks Matt !!!!!!