Changing How Word Presents Your Document

As you work with Word, you will probably notice that it is like working on a piece of paper. The background of the screen is white, text is in black (or some other color you specify), and information generally appears as it would if you would print the document.

If the white background hurts your eyes or is distracting to you, Word allows you to change the appearance of the screen so that you have a blue background with white text. Many people find this more pleasant to work with. You can change this appearance of Word by following these steps if you are using a version of Word prior to Word 2007:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the General tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Blue Background, White Text check box is selected.
4. Click on OK.

This feature was removed from Word 2007, so it is no longer available. The reason Microsoft gave for removing the feature is that it was included for compatibility with older versions of WordPerfect. Apparently they no longer feel that such compatibility is important.