How do I globally set the text color in XeLaTeX

Question

With pdfLaTeX I typically used the following code to globally set the text color for all text in the document:

\documentclass{scrreprt}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\begin{document}
\color{red}
\section{A section heading}
some test text
\end{document}

Running the document through pdfLaTeX produces red text. Running this through XeLaTeX produces black text. Using package color instead of xcolor doesn't make a difference.

I'd like to globally set the text color for all text appearing in the document, i.e. the headings, the table of contents, all normal text, in figures, in equations, if possible in TikZ nodes, just everything.

Answer 1

Here's a way to do it which will work whether you use XeLaTeX or not, and whether you use Komascript or not. It works by redefining the default color used by LaTeX.

\documentclass{report}
%\documentclass{scrreprt}

\usepackage{xcolor}

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\globalcolor}[1]{%
  \color{#1}\global\let\default@color\current@color
}
\makeatother

\AtBeginDocument{\globalcolor{red}}

\begin{document}

\section{A section heading}

some test text

\end{document}

Answer 2

Since you say you're using XeLaTeX, you can also define a colour in the font definition:

In order to change colours if you do this, you need to use fontspec's \addfontfeature instead of the regular \color or \textcolor commands. Alternatively, you can define a new font family for the other colour(s).

\documentclass{scrreprt}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[Color=red]{Linux Libertine O}
\setsansfont[Color=red]{Linux Biolinum O}
\setmonofont[Color=red]{Inconsolata}
% If you will be changing colours a lot, it's best to define a new font family
% for each colour that you will use; if you're just changing a few times, then
% \addfontfeature is fine
\newfontfamily\blueroman[Color=blue]{Linux Libertine O} 

\begin{document}
\chapter{A chapter}
\section{A section}
\texttt{Some mono text}

Some regular text.

{\addfontfeature{Color=blue} Some blue text without defining a new font family.}

{\blueroman Some blue text with a new font family command.}
\end{document}

Answer 3

\documentclass{scrreprt}
    
\usepackage{xcolor}
    
\AtBeginDocument{\color{red}}
    
\addtokomafont{sectioning}{\color{red}}
    
\begin{document}
    
\section{A section heading}

    some test text
    
\end{document}

Answer 4

As Alan Munn suggested, since you're using XeLaTeX, you could use fontspec's capabilities to set the color of the font. If you want all the text to be a given color, you can even set that in the default font features:

\documentclass{scrreprt}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX,Color=red}
\setmainfont{Linux Libertine O}
\setsansfont{Linux Biolinum O}
\setmonofont{Inconsolata}

\begin{document}
\chapter{A chapter}
\section{A section}
\texttt{Some mono text}
Some regular text.
\end{document}