Share via

Changing a Character Style's Font Color Back to 'No Color'

Anonymous
2025-04-16T07:38:15+00:00

While googling the other day, I ran across this old post (2017) that asked how to set the Font Color of a character style back to "No Color". https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-can-i-set-a-character-style-colour-to-no-color/8ff4f7c3-063b-4df7-b4b8-6bac96dbbaf3

Maybe there's a newer post showing a different way, but I didn't run across any. So, I thought I'd show a way that doesn't require creating a new document, recreating the character style, and copying the style back to the original document. Perhaps, some of you may already know this method, but for the ones that don't, here is how it's done. This works with the Windows desktop version of Word. I don't know if it works with other versions.

[START OF EDIT]

As a result of discussions in this thread with Charles, I added an image and updated the 4 steps to provide further clarification. To maintain the history of this thread, I applied strikethrough to the original steps, rather than deleting them.

Let's assume you have a character style named "Style 1". To change its Font Color to "No Color", perform the following steps:

1. Create a new paragraph in the document using the Normal style, and make a note of the Font Color the Normal style is using (e.g., Automatic, Red, Blue, etc.).

2. Apply the character style to some text in the paragraph.

3. With that text still selected, change its font color to the same color you noted in step 2, but do this by clicking on the Font Color icon in the Font group on the ribbon.

4. With the text still selected, right click on the character style in the quick style gallery, and choose "Modify Style 1 to Match Selection".

NOTE: Except for step 4, when the phrase 'Font Color' is used, the phrase is referring to the color displayed in the Font Color dropdown box shown in a style's Font dialog box.

Let's assume you have a character style named "Style 1", and its Font Color has been assigned to a specific color (e.g., red), and you want to change it to "No Color". First, be sure Style 1 is shown in the quick styles gallery. To change Style 1's Font Color to "No Color", perform the following steps:

  1. Create a new paragraph in the document using the Normal style. You can use any paragraph style, but I chose the Normal style in these steps.
  2. Make a note of the Font Color the Normal style is using (e.g., Automatic, Red, Blue, etc.).
  3. Apply the Style 1 character style to some text in the paragraph.
  4. With that text still selected, change its color to the same color you noted in step 2, but this time do it by clicking on the Font Color icon in the Font group on the ribbon.
  5. With the text still selected, right click on Style 1 in the quick style gallery, and choose "Modify Style 1 to Match Selection".

[END OF EDIT]

Now, when you right click on Style 1 in the quick style gallery, and you choose Modify > Format > Font, you'll see the Font Color set to "No Color". If you want to change the Underline Color to "No Color", the process is similar. Surprisingly, modifying Style 1 directly and setting its Font Color to the same color as the Normal style doesn't appear to work.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

34 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Stefan Blom 341.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-17T09:17:19+00:00

    Since I contributed in the 2017 thread, I had to think a bit about this before responding. :-)

    In Word, paragraph styles may be based on other styles and they will inherit the "parent" style settings, unless you explicitly modify a setting in the "child" style, in which case the "heritage link" will be broken. For example, if you explicitly set a style to apply underline, it will continue to do so no matter if the parent style includes underline formatting or not. (If the paragraph style isn't based on another paragraph style, document defaults will still be inherited.)

    The wordmvp.com article mentioned in 2017 (https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/MacrosVBA/ResetStyles.htm) lists some ways to "reset" certain settings, that is, to make them "undefined" in the child style, so that they again will be inherited from the parent style.

    Character styles are a bit different, as these add formatting on top of the current style.

    If you select a text range in Normal style with no direct formatting applied to it and then update your character style based on the selection, what happens is that any explicit modifications are removed from the character style. For example, the font name will be "undefined" (= blank in the Font drop down). Color seems to be set back to "Automatic."

    Resetting character styles via Update Style Name to Match Selection wasn't possible in older versions of Word, if I remember correctly.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-17T00:59:44+00:00

    Automatic is black when on a light color, white when on a dark color.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2025-04-16T19:55:48+00:00

    Yes, I referenced that same link in my post.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Charles Kenyon 167.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-16T18:18:10+00:00

    In my experience, a character style will always be based on the default paragraph font or on underlying properties. Neither allows for no color. A character style is not based on the Normal style.

    Unless a color is specifically added to a character style, the color when you go to Format > Font will always be No Color. It will though not show up as that in the Modify Style dialog, but rather the color set in the default paragraph font or underlying properties. That color showing is usually Automatic but that is a misstatement unless the user chose it.

    I can see no benefit to using your method unless the character style has a color applied.

    (If it says "Automatic" for the color, you actually need to go to Format > Font in the dialog to check, because it will say that in the Modification dialog whether or not Automatic color was applied by the user. The Format > Font dialog, though, will show "No Color" unless the user applied Automatic.

    I tried your method and what I get is color of Automatic which is the same color as the Normal style. If I look at the modify style dialog I see.

    Image

    If I go to Format>Font and look at the color, yes, it will say "no color."

    Image

    It would do that just creating a character style that is based on default paragraph font or underlying properties without any intervening work. Here is what I see trying to create a BoldItalics character style directly.

    Image

    Whether following your method or simply directly creating the character style, if you apply your style to text which is directly formatted with a color other than that of the underlying paragraph style, it will give you Automatic, that is, usually, black. It will influence the color, or remove directly formatted text. If the color is from the underlying paragraph style, it is not influenced by the character style.

    Your method would be worthwhile if there is a color other than Automatic showing in the style definition dialog. Again, any character style will remove directly applied color. It will change to the color of the style if it has one, and to the color set in the underlying paragraph style if not.

    If your style retains directly applied color, would you care to save a document with your No Color character style on OneDrive or DropBox and share a link here? I would really like to look at it.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2025-04-16T14:25:45+00:00

    Hello WordWizzard,

    Welcome to the Microsoft Community Support!

    It's like you've found a clever workaround for setting a character style's font color back to "No Color"! While the older post you referenced from 2017 discussed the issue, there is a newer discussion on the same topic, which outlines a similar approach.

    Your method of matching the font color to the Normal style and then modifying the character style to match the selection is a great way to bypass the limitation. Another approach mentioned in older discussions is to create a new style without a defined font color and copy it into the document, but your method avoids that extra step.

    If you're curious about other potential solutions, you might find additional insights in this related discussion.

    How can I set a Character Style colour to "No Color"? - Microsoft Community.

    Let me know if you need any further clarification!

    Best Regards, Van Johnson | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments