The fastest way to change your background color

Open your Word document and go to the Design tab at the top of the screen. Click Page Color — it's in the middle of the ribbon. A color palette will appear. Click the color you want, and Word will apply it to the entire page background immediately.

That's the method most people need. The color fills the whole page behind your text, and you can change it back anytime by returning to Design > Page Color and selecting No Color.

If you don't see the Design tab, you may be using an older version of Word. In Word 2010 or earlier, go to Page Layout instead, then look for Page Color in the same location.

Key Takeaways

  • The Design tab contains Page Color, which changes the background of your entire document with one click.
  • You can choose from preset colors or select More Colors to pick a custom shade that matches your needs.
  • Page color prints by default, so check your printer settings if you want to save ink on a colored background.
  • Removing the background color is as simple as clicking Page Color again and selecting No Color.

Choosing a color from the palette

When you click Page Color, Word shows you a grid of standard colors. These are the quickest option — just click once and you're done. The colors include blues, greens, reds, yellows, and neutrals like gray and beige.

If none of the preset colors match what you want, click More Colors at the bottom of the palette. This opens a larger color picker where you can select from thousands of shades. You can type in a specific color code if you have one (useful if your workplace uses brand colors), or you can click anywhere in the color square to find the exact shade you need.

After you pick a custom color, Word remembers it and adds it to your recent colors section, so you can use it again without hunting through the full picker.

Understanding what page color actually does

Page color fills the background of every page in your document with the color you choose. It sits behind all your text, images, and tables. Unlike highlighting, which you apply to individual words or paragraphs, page color affects the entire page.

One important thing to know: page color prints. If you send your document to a printer, the colored background will print too, which uses more ink or toner. If you're printing many copies, you may want to remove the background color before printing. You can always add it back after.

Page color does not affect how the document looks when someone else opens it on their computer — the color travels with the file. If you email a document with a blue background to a coworker, they will see the blue background too.

Removing or changing the background color

To remove the background color entirely, go back to Design > Page Color and click No Color at the top of the palette. The background will return to white immediately.

To change to a different color, just click Page Color again and select a new one. Word replaces the old color with the new one across all pages. You don't have to remove the old color first — just pick the new one and it takes over.

What to do if Page Color is grayed out

Sometimes the Page Color button appears grayed out or inactive. This usually means your document is in a read-only mode or protected by someone else. Check the top of the window for a message like "This document is read-only" or "This document is protected."

If it's read-only, click Edit Document (usually in a yellow bar at the top) to unlock it. If it's protected, you'll need the password from whoever set up the protection, or you can ask them to remove it so you can edit the document.

Another reason Page Color might be unavailable: you're working in a template or a document linked to a master document. In that case, the background color may be controlled at the template level, and you may need to edit the template itself rather than the individual document.

Coloring specific sections instead of the whole page

If you only want to color part of your document — say, the first page or a single section — page color won't work because it applies to the entire document. Instead, you can use a table with a colored background or apply shading to a paragraph.

To shade a single paragraph, select the text, go to the Home tab, and click the arrow next to Highlight Color (it looks like a marker pen). Choose your color and it will shade just that paragraph. This method is useful for drawing attention to important text without coloring the whole page.

For more control over which pages get which colors, you can divide your document into sections and apply different page colors to each section. This requires using Page Breaks and Section Breaks, which is more advanced but gives you the flexibility to have a colored first page and white pages after it, for example.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the background color show up when I convert my document to PDF?

Yes. When you save or export your Word document as a PDF, the page color comes along with it. The PDF will have the same colored background you see in Word. If you don't want the color in the PDF, remove it before converting.

Can I use a picture as the background instead of a solid color?

Not through the Page Color option — that only handles solid colors. To add a picture background, go to Design > Page Color > More Colors and look for a Fill Effects or Picture tab, depending on your Word version. Some versions of Word don't support picture backgrounds directly in the page color menu.

Does page color work the same way in Word Online as it does in the desktop version?

Word Online has limited design options compared to the desktop version. You may not see a Design tab at all. If you need to change page color, download the document, make the change in the desktop version of Word, and upload it back to OneDrive or SharePoint.

What if I want different background colors on different pages?

Page color applies to the whole document at once. To have different colors on different pages, you need to split your document into sections using Section Breaks, then apply page color to each section separately. This is more involved, but it's the only way to get multiple background colors in one document.

Why does my background color look different when I print it?

Printers often render colors slightly differently than your screen, especially if your printer is set to draft mode or economy mode. Check your printer settings and make sure color printing is turned on. You can also print a test page to see how the color actually looks before printing your whole document.