Is it possible to turn off Dark Mode off in Prism?

The "Problem"

Support for Dark Mode was introduced for Prism on macOS in version 10.2.0. In following with Apple's interface guidelines, Prism automatically adopts the appearance of the system. In other words, if the system is set to Dark Mode, Prism will use its dark theme, while it will use its light theme when the system is set to Light Mode. As a result, there's no option in Prism to "disable" Dark Mode when the system is in dark mode.

But I want Prism's light theme

The easiest way to get Prism to use its light theme is to simply set your system appearance to use Light Mode.

But if for some reason you insist on using Prism with its light theme while your system is set to Dark Mode, it is technically possible. To accomplish this, you'll need to use the terminal application to make direct modifications to Prism's system preferences.

Steps to turn off Dark Mode only for Prism

1. Launch the terminal application
2. Enter the following command:
   defaults write com.GraphPad.Prism NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool Yes

Note that if Prism was already running when you entered this command, you'll need to quit and restart Prism for the change to take effect.

Great! Now Dark Mode has been disabled for Prism. But what happens if you want it back in the future? That's also possible using terminal.

Steps to revert Prism back to default behavior with Dark Mode

1. Launch the terminal application
2. Enter the following command:
   defaults delete com.GraphPad.Prism NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance

Note that if Prism was already running when you entered this command, you'll need to quit and restart Prism for the change to take effect.

After this, Prism should once again adopt the appearance of the system.