Forum Discussion
Excel banner goes grey in MacBook when screen is maximised
When I click green circle in top left/h corner to maximise screen in macbook, the excel green header turns grey and icons are dificult to see. if i then click yellow circle to part minimise screen, header goes back to green. I have done a short screen capture video to show this.
Why is this happening, can it be fixed please? Tks, Jon.
1 Reply
This is a known Excel for Mac display/appearance bug, especially on macOS Ventura/Sonoma and Office 365 builds from the last year.
You’re not doing anything wrong — the grey banner appears only in full-screen mode (when clicking the green traffic-light button), and the ribbon/icons become low-contrast.Workarounds you can try…
Update Excel
Microsoft patched this in several builds but the bug still reappears:
Excel → Help → Check for Updates
Install the latest version.
Don't use full-screen — use “zoom” instead
Instead of the green full-screen button:
- Hold Option
- Click the green button (it turns into a “+” symbol) → this zooms the window to fill most of the screen but avoids full-screen mode.
Change Office theme
Go to:
Excel → Preferences → General → Personalize
Try switching between:- Colorful (default)
- Classic
- Dark Mode
Sometimes switching themes resets the ribbon colouring.
Disable macOS automatic dark mode
If macOS is using Auto (light/dark) mode:
System Settings → Appearance → Light
Excel often misbehaves in Auto mode in full-screen.
Turn off “Reduce Transparency” (macOS)
Go to:
System Settings → Accessibility → Display
Turn off: Reduce TransparencyExcel sometimes misinterprets this when switching UI modes.
I hope it helps them.
