Problem with black doc background color

Question

Problem with black doc background color

G R 21

I am used to write my Word 2010 docs with white text on black background. Now the text is black, the background of every line is white, while the background around the text is still black (see image).
How can I restore the original white text on black background?

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Answer 1

Emily Hua-MSFT 27,796

@G R

According to your sharing, the document with the problem set Shading: Pattern: Transparent (White), but the older version does not have such setting.
I still agree with StefanBlom-6438's first suggestion, but if the shading could not be cleaned, I would suggest you select the text, click "Clear Formating", and then re-set the correct format.
(Please back up the file first before trying this step.)

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G R 21 Reputation points

2022-03-17T11:10:58.55+00:00

Partial Victory: Your suggestion worked with the sample doc!

In the meantime I had changed the background color of the original document back to white (which is not good for my eyes). Now I changed back to black as background color. found again every line with a white background (see upload). I selected a text sample, clicked "clear formatting" — and nothing happened.
G R 21 Reputation points

2022-03-17T17:03:14.337+00:00

Hi emilyhua-msft,
I started a new document with black background, copied the last Standard (= Normal) passage I had written and inserted it into the new document, using the "Insert Without Formatting" command from the right mouse button menu. The vexing white background was gone, the text was just the white font on black background.
Obviously, the culprit is the line in the old Normal Style: "Schriftart: (Standard) Times New Roman, 14 Pt., Schriftartfarbe: Text 1 Muster: Transparent (Weiß), (in English: Font Type Normal Times New Roman 14 pt., Font Color: Text 1 Pattern: Transparent (white))
However, the correct Normal Style should only have: " Schriftart: (Standard) Times New Roman, 14 Pt., Schriftartfarbe: Hintergrund 2 (in English: Font Type Normal Times New Roman, 14 pt., font color: background 2)
My problem now boils down to: How do I get rid of "Pattern: Transparent (white)" in the style description?
G R 21 Reputation points

2022-03-18T10:51:01.63+00:00

Hi emilyhua-msft, In the meantime I created a workaround by copying the entire faulty document and inserting it without the formatting into an empty doc with black background. That gave the desired result. I restored titles and subtitles as far I need them now and am now content with being able to continue writing with a white font on black.
I am pretty sure that I imported the faulty style with the transparent pattern when I copied text from an outside source together with its formatting. In the future I shall be anxious to copy, paste and insert without the formatting of the source!
Thus let us regard the problem as solved and relax from the chase after the bug.! Thank you for all the trouble you have taken!

Answer 2

Stefan Blom 2,861 MVP Volunteer Moderator

Select a single word and display the Borders and Shading dialog box. Go to the Shading tab. Set the Fill Color to "No Color." Click OK to confirm the settings.

While leaving the same word selected, locate your paragraph style (usually Normal if you didn't explicitly choose another style) in the Styles pane (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S), click the arrow on the far right and choose Update <style name> to Match Selection.

Emily Hua-MSFT 27,796 Reputation points

2022-03-16T09:32:05.447+00:00

Hi @G R
Which version of Office are you using now?
Please check whether StefanBlom-6438's suggestion is helpful to you,
Any updates, welcome to post back.
G R 21 Reputation points

2022-03-16T17:47:49.713+00:00

Dear Stefan, thank you for the trouble you have taken to solve this vexing problem! Though I did exactly as you suggested the problem did not go away.
I looked at an older version of the same document which has the same text correctly in white text on black background. Under style Standard I found the following data: Font Color: Background 2.
However, the document with the problem has different data: Font Color: Text 1. Shading: Pattern: Transparent (White). Does this help to solve the problem?
G R 21 Reputation points

2022-03-16T17:56:47.797+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I am using Office 2010. As you see, Stefan's reply did not solve the problem. But I compared the Style data of the faulty document with those of a correct older version of the same document and found the latter to be different. But I am not sure how to transfer the correct data to the faulty document.
Stefan Blom 2,861 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2022-03-16T20:16:41.677+00:00

Are you able to share a sample document, in Word format?
G R 21 Reputation points

2022-03-17T17:03:06.86+00:00

Hi Stefan,
I started a new document with black background, copied the last Standard (= Normal) passage I had written and inserted it into the new document, using the "Insert Without Formatting" command from the right mouse button menu. The vexing white background was gone, the text was just the white font on black background.
Obviously, the culprit is the line in the old Normal Style: "Schriftart: (Standard) Times New Roman, 14 Pt., Schriftartfarbe: Text 1 Muster: Transparent (Weiß), (in English: Font Type Normal Times New Roman 14 pt., Font Color: Text 1 Pattern: Transparent (white))
However, the correct Normal Style should only have: " Schriftart: (Standard) Times New Roman, 14 Pt., Schriftartfarbe: Hintergrund 2 (in English: Font Type Normal Times New Roman, 14 pt., font color: background 2)
My problem now boils down to: How do I get rid of "Pattern: Transparent (white)" in the style description?

Answer 3

G R 21

As you requested, I I prepared the sample docs, one correct, one faulty, but the Forum Program does not accept uploaded Word documents, only pdfs and images. What can I do?

Stefan Blom 2,861 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2022-03-18T10:02:14.773+00:00

You can put the document in some online storage, such as OneDrive or Dropbox, and post a link in this thread.
G R 21 Reputation points

2022-03-18T10:49:58.957+00:00

Hi StefanBlom-6438, In the meantime I created a workaround by copying the entire faulty document and inserting it without the formatting into an empty doc with black background. That gave the desired result. I restored titles and subtitles as far I need them now and am now content with being able to continue writing with a white font on black.
I am pretty sure that I imported the faulty style with the transparent pattern when I copied text from an outside source together with its formatting. In the future I shall be anxious to copy, paste and insert without the formatting of the source!
Thus let us regard the problem as solved and relax from the chase after the bug.! Thank you for all the trouble you have taken!
Stefan Blom 2,861 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2022-03-18T10:51:32.147+00:00

Thanks for the follow-up. I'm glad you were able to work around the issue.

Sometimes, you have to resort to copy in plain text format and start fresh with reformatting.

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Problem with black doc background color

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