In this short article, I’ll explain how to install themes in FL Studio 21. Yes, in version 21 of our favorite DAW, the developers brought back skin support, and old-timers like me, who experimented with themes back in FL Studio 11, shed a nostalgic tear. Ahem, where was I? Oh, right, themes.
How to install themes in FL Studio 21: the easiest way
So, you’ve just downloaded some free theme pack for FL Studio (like this one) from the Internet, but don’t know how to install it? It’s actually very simple:
- Open FL Studio 21;
- In the browser window (the panel on the left where you choose samples), find the User Data folder;
- Right-click on it and open it in Windows Explorer (or Finder if you’re on a Mac), to see it as a regular folder;
- Once the User Data folder is open, navigate to FL Studio → Settings → Themes;
- Copy your theme files into this folder and restart FL Studio 21.
How to change themes in FL Studio 21
Now that your custom theme is installed, you can switch to it via the theme selection menu. To do this, open FL Studio 21 and go to the Options → Theme Settings menu. In the window that opens, you’ll see your new theme – just click on its thumbnail to change the theme in FL Studio:
How to remove default themes in FL Studio 21
You might notice that when you hover your mouse over an installed theme in FL Studio, there is a button that allows you to delete the theme. However, default themes don’t have this button, so you’re stuck with them forever, even if you never use them… Not so fast!
Actually, deleting default themes in FL Studio 21 is quite simple. To do this, you need to physically delete the theme files from the following folders:
- Windows: Program Files \ Image-Line \ FL Studio 21 \ Artwork \ Themes
- MacOS: Applications / FL Studio 21.app / Contents / Resources / FL / Artwork/ Themes
After performing this simple operation, your inner perfectionist can rest easy because the theme selection window will now look like this:
Please make a backup of the folder you’re deleting files from before removing any of FL Studio’s system files. Backups are never a bad idea!
By the way, you can also copy custom theme files into the same folder where FL Studio’s default themes are stored. Why? I don’t know, but it works too, and you’ll have to delete these themes the same way described above.
Can you use FL Studio 21 themes it FL 20 or 12?
Unfortunately, you can’t use themes created for FL Studio 21 in earlier versions. FL Studio versions 20 and 12 do not support themes at all, and FL Studio 11 (the last old-school version of FL that supported skins) had a completely different internal architecture, making themes incompatible between these versions.