You may want to give your document some color. You may want to be able to rest your eyes and have a darker screen. You may want to focus on writing and nothing else. Whatever the reason, it’s nice to know how to change the background color on word. In this post I’m going to walk you through how to do so as well as how to change the entire background of your screen, not just the document. Of course, you may have got a document with a background color and want to remove it or change it. That’s why I’ll also go through how to do that as well. Ready? Let’s go!
How to Change the Background Color on the Page
The best way to change the background color on a page is to do so by the Design tab in the ribbon. However, this may not appear in your version of Word. All is not lost though, it’s easy to add to your ribbon.
Adding the Design Tab to Your Ribbon
- Click on File then on Options:
- On the pop up window select Customize Ribbon and then on the right hand column ensure that the Design tab is checked.
- The design tab now appears in your document:
Adding the Background Color to the Page
- On the Design tab on the ribbon, click the Page Color button:
- Add the color that you like. You can also select a more precise color using the more colors option:
If you want to add some effects to your background, for example a gradient, it’s easy to do so by using the Fill Effects options:
And this is how you change the background color on Word.
How to Change the Background Color on Every Page
By default, when you change the background color in Word, you are doing it to every single page in the document. As you can see from the image below, all the extra pages (signified by the lines) have the same color:
However, if you want to know how do I put different backgrounds on different pages in word follow these steps:
How Do I Put Different Backgrounds on Different Pages in Word?
Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick and simple way to add different backgrounds on different pages. However, there are a few workarounds that work pretty well.
Per Page Method
If you want just a single page to be a different color to the rest of the document, all you need to do is add a box over the text and then put the text in front of it. This is how:
- For ease of use, it’s best if you make the page smaller by zooming out so you can see the entire page. You can do this by holding down the CTRL button and scrolling down. Or you can use the Zoom function at the bottom right of the screen:
- On the ribbon, select Insert and then Shapes:
- Select the rectangle option and then drag it across the entire page that you want to have a different color. You can see from the crosshairs that I’ve put the rectangle across the whole screen:
- Now you’ll see that the whole of the page has gone that color, hiding the text. Therefore we need to put the color behind the text.
- In the ribbon, click on the Shape Format menu and then select the Wrap text button.
- Select the Behind text option and that’s it:
Your page now has a different color to the rest of the document.
Per Section Method
If you want to have different colors of different sections of the document you’ll need to have the document in different sections. In order to see what that looks like and how to go about doing so, I suggest you check out that particular post. As well as this, we are going to be using headers and footers to get this done. If you want a full rundown on how to use headers and footers, please check out that post.
- Place the curser at the end of the page where you want to change the background color. On the Layout menu in the ribbon, click on the Break button and then on Next page:
- Now go the header or footer of the document and double click there to open it. You will see a new menu in the ribbon called Header & Footer. By default there is a button selected there called Link to Previous. You have to deselect this. As well as this, you will see on your document a Same as Previous button:
- Once it is deselected, go through the steps above about how to add the background color. You will see that it only appears on the section that you have selected. The color lives in the header or footer section even though it covers the whole page.
How Do I Get Rid of a Background in Word?
If you want to remove a background color that has been added in word, it’s important to know how it was added. Just look through the different ways I’ve gone through adding the background and reverse them.
For example, if you have added a background color by way of adding a box shape, then navigate to it and then just press delete.
If you have added it via the Design tab in the ribbon, then remove it by going to the Page Color button and selecting No color.
In Summary
I’ve gone through a few different ways on how to change a background color on Word. It’s perhaps not the most simple thing in the world to do but if you follow these instructions, I’m sure you’ll find it easy. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know in the comments section below. Good luck!