Share via

How to fix microsoft word - new documents open with a blank page that is not white

Lachlan Aquilina 20 Reputation points
2024-03-14T10:17:06.7966667+00:00

Screenshot 2024-03-14 at 6.14.46 pm

I have recently bought a new macbook and a new microsoft subscription.

When redeeming the microsoft subscription on the laptop, it identifies that I have also bought a previous subscription in 2022 (that I use on a separate tablet). When I go to open microsoft word, it advises me to choose one of the subscriptions, but they are the same subscription, so I have no idea which is the new one and which is the old one, so I pick one and I can see that I have immediate access to documents from my tablet (so I suppose I picked the old one). The problem is that when I open a new blank document, it comes up as truly blank (no white background - see screenshot).

Is this problem because of the two subscriptions and choosing the one that is attached to my tablet? Or is it some other issue?

How do I fix this?

Word
Word
A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.
689 questions
Word Management
Word Management
Word: A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
900 questions
Accepted answer
  1. Jiajing Hua-MFST 5,555 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2024-03-15T03:20:58.0166667+00:00

    Hi @Lachlan Aquilina

    It look like the dark mode is enabled.

    Please go to Word > Preferences > General > Personalize and select Turn off Dark Mode. 

    For more, please refer to: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dark-mode-in-word-e17b79a3-762f-4280-a81c-a15a859a693a#ID0EDD=Microsoft_365_for_Mac.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    1 person found this answer helpful.

1 additional answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Olaf Helper 41,021 Reputation points
    2024-03-14T10:24:53.0233333+00:00

    When you open a new document, then it is a copy of the template "Normal.dotm", so I guess your template is mixed up.

    See MS Support: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-default-settings-for-new-documents-430b4132-e129-46e4-97d2-19c326352c7f

    => Change other default settings in the Normal template