---
title: "Enabling and Disabling themes in Drupal 8"
description: "When working with themes in Drupal 8, you will want to know how to switch between themes that have been enabled. To that end, you will also need to know how to enable and disable them so they can be..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal/enable-disable/
date: 2013-10-14
modified: 2021-08-16
author: "Scott Mitchell"
categories: ["Drupal"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Enabling and Disabling themes in Drupal 8

When working with themes in Drupal 8, you will want to know how to switch between themes that have been enabled. To that end, you will also need to know how to enable and disable them so they can be activated. This short article will guide you on how to do this to themes within your Drupal 8 installation.

## How to enable themes in Drupal 8

1. [Log into your Drupal 8 administrative dashboard](/support/edu/drupal/how-to-log-into-the-drupal-admin-dashboard/).
2. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png)[![select menu option](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png) Select **Menu** from the top menu bar.
3. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-appearance.png)[![select the Appearance option](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-appearance.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-appearance.png) Next, click on **Appearance** from the secondary menu that appears.
4. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_1-enable-disable-list.png)[![the configuration screen for the module](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_1-enable-disable-list.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_1-enable-disable-list.png) You are now taken to the main *Appearance* screen. This is a list of available themes. The enabled themes are listed at the top. Look to the section beneath entitiled *Disabled Themes* and find the theme you wish to enable. From there, you will see two options, click on the one that best suits your needs. Enable Enables the theme, but simply places in the list above. Does not set it as the active theme. Enable and set default Enables the theme and places in the list above. Sets it as the current active theme. In our example, we clicked **Enable** for the Stark theme. You can now see that it appears in the *Enabled Theme* list and can be activated at any time. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_2-enable-complete.png)[![the configuration screen for the module](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_2-enable-complete.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_2-enable-complete.png)

## How to disable themes in Drupal 8

Diasabling themes is a very straightforwrd process as demonstrated below

1. [Log into your Drupal 8 administrative dashboard](/support/edu/drupal/how-to-log-into-the-drupal-admin-dashboard/).
2. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png)[![click on the Menu item](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-menu.png) Select **Menu** from the top menu bar.
3. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-appearance.png)[![select the Appearance option](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-appearance.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8__common-images_select-appearance.png) Next, click on **Appearance** from the secondary menu that appears.
4. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_2-enable-complete.png)[![the configuration screen for the module](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_2-enable-complete.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_2-enable-complete.png) You are now taken to the main *Appearance* screen. This is a list of available themes. The enabled themes are listed at the top. Look to the theme that you wish to disable and you will see the **Disable** link next to it. Click that to disable the theme. Note that you are unable to disable the *Bartik* and *Seven* themes. These are the two default themes so they are not available for disabling by Drupal 8. Once you have disabled your theme, it will now appear in the *Disabled Themes* section of the *Appearance* list. [](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_1-enable-disable-list.png)[![the configuration screen for the module](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_1-enable-disable-list.png)](/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/edu_Drupal-8_105_enable-theme_1-enable-disable-list.png)