How to set a third-party desktop theme

  1. Download a third-party GTK, Gnome Shell, or XFWM theme. You can find many community-created desktop themes on Pling.com
  2. Launch the Files app and open the "Downloads" folder
  3. Right-click on the downloaded theme file and select "Extract Here"
  4. Select the newly-extracted folder, right-click on it and select "Copy". Please make sure that there is a file named "index.theme" directly inside this folder.
  5. Return to your Home folder in the Files app.
  6. Open the app menu to enable the "Show Hidden Files" option.
    hidden
  7. Navigate to .local > share
  8. If the "themes" folder doesn't exist here, right-click on an empty spot in the folder to create a "New Folder" with the name "themes". This name is case-sensitive, so it should be written in lower-case characters only.
    themes-folder
  9. Open the "themes" folder and right-click > Paste to install the theme locally.
  10. Return to your Home folder.
  11. Open the app menu to disable the "Show Hidden Files" option.
    unhidden
  12. Open the Zorin menu and search & open "Zorin Appearance"
  13. Navigate to the "Themes" category and select the "Other" tab.
  14. Open the "Applications" and "Shell" drop-down menus to select the newly-installed third-party desktop theme.

You should now see the selected third-party theme throughout the desktop.

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