Changing How Word Presents Your Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 2, 2017)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the General tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The General tab of the Options dialog box.

Make sure the Blue Background, White Text check box is selected.
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.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1844) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Creating a Document Clone

If you need to work with a copy of a document rather than the original document, you can use Word's Open dialog box to ...

Discover More

Specifying Location for a Message Box

When writing macros, you may want to position a message box at a specific location on the screen. This can't be done in ...

Discover More

Using Extend Mode

One of the most overlooked shortcut keys in Word has to be the extend key. Yet, learning how to use this simple key can ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Making Word Remember My Settings

Ever had the experience of setting some configuration option in Word, only to have the option revert to a different ...

Discover More

A Shortcut for Switching Focus

Word provides keyboard shortcuts for lots of things, but it doesn't provide one for switching to the desktop and back to ...

Discover More

Displaying Toolbars

How to display the variety of toolbars in Word.

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 7 - 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.