Persistent Highlighting

Question

I have a troublesome problem with Word 2016 and 365: 

• When I select a word and apply "text highlight color" to it, the space behind the word turns yellow.
• When I then select the highlighted word and type a new word in its place, the new word appears, but the highlighting remains.
• To get rid of the highlighting I have to select the word yet again and “un” highlight it.  Alternatively, I can select the word, hit delete, and then type my new word. Simple enough procedures, but ones that I might have to do dozens or hundreds of times a day.
• Earlier versions of Word did not behave this way. In those versions, I could simply select a highlighted word, and as soon as I began typing, the highlighting would disappear.

How can I make Word 2016 or 365 behave like earlier versions in this regard?

Answer 1

I don't see anything you can do to restore the previous behavior, except to add your vote to the suggestion at https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/35041834-highlighting. If the person who posted that is correct, the current behavior is a mistake, so it might be possible to get it corrected in an update.

I'll ping the Word developers to be sure they're aware of it.

Answer 2

Thank you. I've added my vote to that suggestion.