diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/AppBarbutton.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/AppBarbutton.jsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3a7a84f8c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/AppBarbutton.jsx
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import { Button, Tooltip } from "@mui/material"
+import { grey } from "@mui/material/colors"
+import { bool, element, func, object, string } from "prop-types"
+
+import { childrenPropType } from "../../sharedPropTypes"
+
+export function AppBarButton({ children, disabled, loading, onClick, startIcon, sx, tooltip }) {
+    return (
+        <Tooltip title={tooltip}>
+            <span /* https://mui.com/material-ui/react-tooltip/#disabled-elements */>
+                <Button
+                    aria-label={tooltip}
+                    color="inherit"
+                    disabled={disabled}
+                    loading={loading}
+                    loadingPosition="start"
+                    onClick={() => onClick()}
+                    startIcon={startIcon}
+                    sx={{ ...sx, height: "100%", "&:disabled": { color: grey[400] } }}
+                >
+                    {children}
+                </Button>
+            </span>
+        </Tooltip>
+    )
+}
+AppBarButton.propTypes = {
+    children: childrenPropType,
+    disabled: bool,
+    loading: bool,
+    onClick: func,
+    startIcon: element,
+    sx: object,
+    tooltip: string,
+}
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.jsx
index e3b21eedbf..631f4e99fa 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.jsx
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.jsx
@@ -1,23 +1,19 @@
 import UnfoldLessIcon from "@mui/icons-material/UnfoldLess"
-import { Button, Tooltip } from "@mui/material"
 
 import { stringsURLSearchQueryPropType } from "../../sharedPropTypes"
 
+import { AppBarButton } from "./AppBarbutton"
+
 export function CollapseButton({ expandedItems }) {
     return (
-        <Tooltip title={"Collapse all headers and metrics"}>
-            <span /* https://mui.com/material-ui/react-tooltip/#disabled-elements */>
-                <Button
-                    color="inherit"
-                    disabled={expandedItems.equals([])}
-                    onClick={() => expandedItems.reset()}
-                    startIcon={<UnfoldLessIcon />}
-                    sx={{ height: "100%" }}
-                >
-                    Collapse all
-                </Button>
-            </span>
-        </Tooltip>
+        <AppBarButton
+            disabled={expandedItems.equals([])}
+            onClick={() => expandedItems.reset()}
+            startIcon={<UnfoldLessIcon />}
+            tooltip={"Collapse all headers and metrics"}
+        >
+            Collapse all
+        </AppBarButton>
     )
 }
 CollapseButton.propTypes = {
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.test.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.test.jsx
index 2bd044e4b2..d57372a895 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.test.jsx
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/CollapseButton.test.jsx
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ it("resets the expanded items", () => {
     const expandedItems = renderHook(() => useExpandedItemsSearchQuery())
     expect(expandedItems.result.current.value).toStrictEqual(["tab"])
     renderCollapseButton({ expandedItems: expandedItems.result.current })
-    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Collapse all" }))
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: /Collapse all/ }))
     expandedItems.rerender()
     expect(expandedItems.result.current.value).toStrictEqual([])
 })
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ it("doesn't change the expanded items if there are none", () => {
     const expandedItems = renderHook(() => useExpandedItemsSearchQuery())
     expect(expandedItems.result.current.value).toStrictEqual([])
     renderCollapseButton({ expandedItems: expandedItems.result.current })
-    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Collapse all" }))
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: /Collapse all/ }))
     expandedItems.rerender()
     expect(expandedItems.result.current.value).toStrictEqual([])
 })
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.jsx
index d2e1ee345c..8285405988 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.jsx
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.jsx
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import PictureAsPdf from "@mui/icons-material/PictureAsPdf"
-import { Button, Tooltip } from "@mui/material"
 import { string } from "prop-types"
 import { useState } from "react"
 
@@ -7,6 +6,8 @@ import { get_report_pdf } from "../../api/report"
 import { registeredURLSearchParams } from "../../hooks/url_search_query"
 import { showMessage } from "../../widgets/toast"
 
+import { AppBarButton } from "./AppBarbutton"
+
 function downloadPDF(report_uuid, queryString, callback) {
     const reportId = report_uuid ? `report-${report_uuid}` : "reports-overview"
     return get_report_pdf(report_uuid, queryString)
@@ -39,25 +40,20 @@ export function DownloadAsPDFButton({ report_uuid }) {
     const queryString = query.toString() ? "?" + query.toString() : ""
     query.set("report_url", window.location.origin + window.location.pathname + queryString + window.location.hash)
     const itemType = report_uuid ? "report" : "reports overview"
-    const label = `Download ${itemType} as PDF`
     return (
-        <Tooltip title={`Generate a PDF version of the ${itemType} as currently displayed. This may take some time.`}>
-            <Button
-                aria-label={label}
-                color="inherit"
-                loading={loading}
-                loadingPosition="start"
-                onClick={() => {
-                    setLoading(true)
-                    downloadPDF(report_uuid, `?${query.toString()}`, () => {
-                        setLoading(false)
-                    })
-                }}
-                startIcon={<PictureAsPdf />}
-            >
-                Download as PDF
-            </Button>
-        </Tooltip>
+        <AppBarButton
+            loading={loading}
+            onClick={() => {
+                setLoading(true)
+                downloadPDF(report_uuid, `?${query.toString()}`, () => {
+                    setLoading(false)
+                })
+            }}
+            startIcon={<PictureAsPdf />}
+            tooltip={`Generate a PDF version of the ${itemType} as currently displayed. This may take some time.`}
+        >
+            Download as PDF
+        </AppBarButton>
     )
 }
 DownloadAsPDFButton.propTypes = {
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.test.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.test.jsx
index bfa434ee02..76d1a1986c 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.test.jsx
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/DownloadAsPDFButton.test.jsx
@@ -16,12 +16,14 @@ beforeEach(() => {
 
 test("DownloadAsPDFButton has the correct label for reports overview", () => {
     render(<DownloadAsPDFButton />)
-    expect(screen.getAllByLabelText(/reports overview as PDF/).length).toBe(1)
+    // toBe(2) due to 10840-menubar-color-contrast-for-disabled-items
+    expect(screen.getAllByLabelText(/Generate a PDF version/).length).toBe(2)
 })
 
 test("DownloadAsPDFButton has the correct label for a report", () => {
     render(<DownloadAsPDFButton report_uuid={"report_uuid"} />)
-    expect(screen.getAllByLabelText(/report as PDF/).length).toBe(1)
+    // toBe(2) due to 10840-menubar-color-contrast-for-disabled-items
+    expect(screen.getAllByLabelText(/Generate a PDF version/).length).toBe(2)
 })
 
 async function clickDownload(nrClicks = 1) {
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/HomeButton.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/HomeButton.jsx
index f6fc711a33..6de8e5c70d 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/HomeButton.jsx
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/HomeButton.jsx
@@ -1,25 +1,23 @@
-import { Button, Tooltip, Typography } from "@mui/material"
+import { Typography } from "@mui/material"
 import { bool, func } from "prop-types"
 
+import { AppBarButton } from "./AppBarbutton"
+
 export function HomeButton({ atReportsOverview, openReportsOverview, setSettingsPanelVisible }) {
     const label = "Go to reports overview"
     return (
-        <Tooltip title={label}>
-            <span /* https://mui.com/material-ui/react-tooltip/#disabled-elements */>
-                <Button
-                    color="inherit"
-                    disabled={atReportsOverview}
-                    onClick={() => {
-                        setSettingsPanelVisible(false)
-                        openReportsOverview()
-                    }}
-                    startIcon={<img height="28px" width="28px" src="/favicon.ico" alt={label} />}
-                    sx={{ textTransform: "none" }}
-                >
-                    <Typography variant="h3">Quality-time</Typography>
-                </Button>
-            </span>
-        </Tooltip>
+        <AppBarButton
+            disabled={atReportsOverview}
+            onClick={() => {
+                setSettingsPanelVisible(false)
+                openReportsOverview()
+            }}
+            startIcon={<img height="28px" width="28px" src="/favicon.ico" alt={label} />}
+            sx={{ textTransform: "none" }}
+            tooltip={label}
+        >
+            <Typography variant="h3">Quality-time</Typography>
+        </AppBarButton>
     )
 }
 HomeButton.propTypes = {
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/ResetSettingsButton.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/ResetSettingsButton.jsx
index fad6c8fea9..94327580e5 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/ResetSettingsButton.jsx
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/ResetSettingsButton.jsx
@@ -1,28 +1,23 @@
 import SettingsBackupRestoreIcon from "@mui/icons-material/SettingsBackupRestore"
-import { Button, Tooltip } from "@mui/material"
 import { bool, func } from "prop-types"
 
 import { optionalDatePropType, settingsPropType } from "../../sharedPropTypes"
 
+import { AppBarButton } from "./AppBarbutton"
+
 export function ResetSettingsButton({ atReportsOverview, handleDateChange, reportDate, settings }) {
-    const label = `Reset ${atReportsOverview ? "reports overview" : "this report's"} settings`
     return (
-        <Tooltip title={label}>
-            <span /* https://mui.com/material-ui/react-tooltip/#disabled-elements */>
-                <Button
-                    color="inherit"
-                    disabled={settings.allDefault() && reportDate === null}
-                    startIcon={<SettingsBackupRestoreIcon />}
-                    onClick={() => {
-                        handleDateChange(null)
-                        settings.reset()
-                    }}
-                    sx={{ height: "100%" }}
-                >
-                    Reset settings
-                </Button>
-            </span>
-        </Tooltip>
+        <AppBarButton
+            disabled={settings.allDefault() && reportDate === null}
+            onClick={() => {
+                handleDateChange(null)
+                settings.reset()
+            }}
+            startIcon={<SettingsBackupRestoreIcon />}
+            tooltip={`Reset ${atReportsOverview ? "reports overview" : "this report's"} settings`}
+        >
+            Reset settings
+        </AppBarButton>
     )
 }
 ResetSettingsButton.propTypes = {
diff --git a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/SettingsButton.jsx b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/SettingsButton.jsx
index 0ad445148a..ff3314b93b 100644
--- a/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/SettingsButton.jsx
+++ b/components/frontend/src/header_footer/buttons/SettingsButton.jsx
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 import ArrowDropDownIcon from "@mui/icons-material/ArrowDropDown"
 import ArrowRightIcon from "@mui/icons-material/ArrowRight"
-import { Button } from "@mui/material"
 import { bool, func } from "prop-types"
 
+import { AppBarButton } from "./AppBarbutton"
+
 export function SettingsButton({ settingsPanelVisible, setSettingsPanelVisible }) {
     return (
-        <Button
-            color="inherit"
+        <AppBarButton
             startIcon={settingsPanelVisible ? <ArrowDropDownIcon /> : <ArrowRightIcon />}
             onClick={() => setSettingsPanelVisible(!settingsPanelVisible)}
         >
             Settings
-        </Button>
+        </AppBarButton>
     )
 }
 SettingsButton.propTypes = {
diff --git a/docs/src/changelog.md b/docs/src/changelog.md
index abd88cdf40..a1221f1f78 100644
--- a/docs/src/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/src/changelog.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ If your currently installed *Quality-time* version is not the latest version, pl
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- Increase contrast for disabled items in the menu bar. Fixes [#10840](https://github.com/ICTU/quality-time/issues/10840).
 - Links to documentation on Read the Docs for subjects, metrics, or sources with hyphens in their name wouldn't scroll to the right location. Fixes [#10843](https://github.com/ICTU/quality-time/issues/10843).
 - The software documentation was outdated (among other things the API-server health check endpoint). Fixes [#10858](https://github.com/ICTU/quality-time/issues/10858).