How do I remove the NEW white background in Print Preview?

Question

There is a white background in the Print Preview window that did not used to be there. It is not the paper. It appears to be the background color of the Print Preview window. Is this a bug or can I turn it off so that it is grey like before?

Answer 1

As far as I know, you can't remove the white background. You can report this to Microsoft, for example via the Help > Feedback facility in Word.

Answer 2

Dear @David Smith,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on your description and the attached screenshot, this behavior is expected and not caused by your document or printer settings. In recent versions of Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 Apps), the Print Preview interface was updated so that the preview canvas background appears white instead of the gray background used in earlier versions.

This white area represents the Print Preview UI itself and does not reflect the paper color or any page background setting. There is currently no option in Word to change or revert the Print Preview background color, and this change does not affect the actual printed output.

Please note that the “Print background colors and images” option only controls whether document background colors are included in printing; it does not affect the appearance of the Print Preview window.

If you would like this behavior to be configurable or reverted, you can submit feedback directly to Microsoft via File > Feedback, as this is working as designed in current builds.

Or you can:

1. Go to Microsoft Ideas · Community
2. Select Send Feedback
3. Share your idea and describe how it would improve your experience

Once submitted, your feedback will be reviewed by the responsible engineering teams and may be considered for inclusion in future product enhancements.

Thank you for your understanding, patience, and for taking the time to help improve Microsoft products. If you have any further questions or need clarification, please feel free to reach out.

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Answer 3

The behavior shown is a change in how the Print Preview window background is rendered and is not exposed as a user-configurable option in Word’s settings. The background color of the preview area is controlled by the application’s window/background painting logic, similar to other Windows applications that fill the client area with a brush defined by the window class, and there is no documented way to revert it to the previous gray background through Word or Windows UI.

There is therefore no supported setting to “turn off” the new white background or change it back to gray; it is part of the updated UI design.

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References:

• Window Background