---
title: "Changing your Admin theme in Drupal"
description: "Just as Drupal allows you to change the public facing theme, it also allows you to change the theme for your administration area. This way you can customize the look and feel of your back end. Below..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/change-admin-theme/
date: 2013-12-19
modified: 2023-10-12
author: "Scott Mitchell"
categories: ["Drupal"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Changing your Admin theme in Drupal

Just as Drupal allows you to change the public facing theme, it also allows you to change the theme for your administration area. This way you can customize the look and feel of your back end. Below is a quick guide on how to switch the admin theme for your Drupal website.

Reduce your website bounce rate with our lightning-fast dedicated [Drupal Hosting](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/drupal-hosting).

## How to change your administration theme

1. [Log into your administrative dashboard](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/wordpress/logging-into-wordpress-dashboard/).
2. [![](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png)Locate the upper menu toolbar and click on the **Menu** tab.
3. [![](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-configuration.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-configuration.png)A second menu toolbar will appear under the first. From this one, click on the **Appearance** option.
4. [![](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/edu_Drupal-8_205_change-admin-theme_1-select-admin-theme.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/edu_Drupal-8_205_change-admin-theme_1-select-admin-theme.png)This leads you to the main *Theme* screen. From here, scroll to the bottom of the page to the *Administration Theme* area. You will see a dropdown list entitled **Administration Theme**. Use the list to find the specific theme you want to use for your admin area. Selecting the *Default* option will make the admin area use the same theme as the rest of the site.

There is also a checkbox named **Use the administration theme when editing or creating content**. This will allow you to use the selected admin theme on the nodes when you create or edit them as opposed to the site-wide theme.

- Once you have selected the theme you want to use in the Admin area, click on the **Save Configuration** button at the bottom to activate the changes. Below is s before and after shot of the *Content* page. The first is using the *Default* theme setting, which is *Bartik*, and the second is after we set the admin theme to *Seven*. Before After [![](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/edu_Drupal-8_205_change-admin-theme_before.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/edu_Drupal-8_205_change-admin-theme_before.png) [![](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/edu_Drupal-8_205_change-admin-theme_after.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/edu_Drupal-8_205_change-admin-theme_after.png)