When two status colours are hard to distinguish, a different screen palette may help. Before trying it, find a sample where the meaning of each colour is already known from text labels or a key. Otherwise, a more noticeable difference could still be interpreted incorrectly.

Windows 11 provides colour filters under Settings, Accessibility, Color filters. Turn the feature on and compare the available filters. Microsoft describes them as changing the screen’s colour palette to help distinguish items that differ only by colour.

Use known information as the reference

Open a harmless chart or status display with at least two categories you need to tell apart. Write down the category labels, then compare how clearly you can follow each one with the filter off and with the candidate filter on.

Include both a light and a dark background if your work uses them. A choice that helps one chart may be less useful in another application. Look at thin lines and small symbols as well as large blocks of colour.

Keep this trial separate from editing the source chart. You are choosing how to view information, so avoid changing a customer document’s colours merely to match the temporary appearance on your screen.

Check interpretation before relying on it

Ask whether you can identify the intended category consistently, using the labels to verify the result. If two categories remain ambiguous, the display needs another cue such as text, a pattern or a different symbol. A filter cannot supply a missing explanation of what a colour means.

For work where exact colour appearance matters, agree on an appropriate review process instead of treating the filtered view as a colour reference. Record the selected filter and the tasks it helps. You can then turn it off for a controlled comparison without losing track of why it was enabled.

Sources: Microsoft colour filters.