Chart - Dark Outlook

Idea Details

Problem statement / pain points (real-life scenario):
When Cognos reports containing charts are distributed by email, the legend text is not visible for users who have enabled dark mode in Outlook.
For example, in the attached screenshot the chart shows several colored series (blue, yellow, light blue, red). Each curve should be explained by a label in the legend. However, since the legend text is rendered as black font on a transparent/black background, it becomes invisible in Outlook dark mode. This makes it impossible for recipients to understand what each curve represents.

Current workaround(s):

• Users must manually switch Outlook from dark mode to light mode for each email to see the labels.

• Alternatively, we can redesign the report background to always be white, but this breaks the overall corporate reporting design where dark background is preferred.

• No option currently exists in Cognos to automatically detect dark/light mode and adapt text color dynamically.

Proposed solution(s):

• Provide an option in Cognos chart properties to set legend text color explicitly (e.g., white) independent of the background.

• Allow “auto contrast” where Cognos adjusts text color depending on background (similar to CSS mix-blend-mode).

• Support for exporting chart images with fixed white background, or a configuration toggle in report properties (“force white background for chart exports”).

Benefits / value:

• Improves readability of reports for all recipients regardless of Outlook theme.

• Eliminates manual switching from dark to light mode, saving time and frustration.

• Ensures consistent, professional look of Cognos email reports.

• Increases adoption and trust in Cognos reporting by reducing interpretation errors.

# of users impacted and frequency:

• All report recipients using Outlook with dark mode enabled.

• In our organization this affects several hundred daily users, since these reports are distributed automatically every morning.

• The impact is daily and ongoing, as this is part of our standard reporting process.