Wrong (blue) background color in word documents

[Pike]

Hi,

When opening an existing (normal) Word document the background color often
changes to blue. I then must change it to white and save it. However it can
revert to blue again when I open it back up. Quitting MS Word doesn't
necessarily solve the problem. It doesn't always happen - maybe 40% of the
time.

When I start a new document it's blue half the time, white the other half.

How can I fix this?

I'm using MS 2001 on OS 9.2, Pismo 400, 320mb RAM

Thanks for your help.

Pike

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Pike,

I thought I remembered a previous post on this same subject and I did.
After checking Google, I discovered that it was *you* back in February!
Here's how John McGhie answered you at the time:

>> The background is a property that is stored in the document. When you have
>> corrected the background, make a change (add or delete a space and put it
>> back) then save the document.

If the problem occurs whenever you open a new blank document and start
typing in it, then the problem may be in the Normal template. Open it
(Applications> Microsoft Office 2001> Templates> Normal) and follow John's
instructions above. If that doesn't do it, trash your Normal template (with
Word closed). When you reopen Word, a new Normal will be created. If there
are customizations in your Normal template that you want to keep, rename
Normal instead of trashing it. If the problem disappears with the new
Normal, you can use Organizer to transfer over your customizations.

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/index.html>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

On 3/31/03 5:59 PM, in article BAAE3292.4F96%pikem...@yahoo.com, "Pike"

[Pike]

Thanks Beth, and John, for your help; I did post before but John's
suggestion didn't work since even new documents were opening blue. And, more
recently (after trying your idea) I still have the blue background when
opening a word document that someone sends me as an attachment. This happens
50% of the time. Plus, if I try to print that document my printer dialogue
box (Epson 740) will also be blue. That is, just the dialogue box is a blue
hue; it prints fine with the normal white background.

I'll try both your suggestions again, just in case I wasn't following them
correctly.

Any more ideas?

Thanks again,
Pike

On 03/31/03 10:53 PM, in article
BAAE7776.20F1F%bethro...@earthlink.net, "Beth Rosengard"

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Pike,

It's a mystery, then. I assume you don't have the General Preference for
"Blue background, white text" checked, because if you did you'd have the
blue background all the time, not 50% of the time (plus you've not mentioned
white text).

The fact that a dialog box turned up blue suggests that maybe this isn't
just a Word problem. Have you seen the blue background in any other
applications?

Okay, I was curious so I just did a Google search and came up with something
that may help. Go to Preferences> Compatibility and be sure "recommended
options" is set to Microsoft Word 2000-2001. If any of the individual
options are checked, uncheck them. Any help?

And here's one more:

1. Go to File/Page setup/Microsoft
Word/Margins/Layout/Borders

2. In Shading tab choose "No fill", in "Page border" tab
choose Color->Automatic, then "OK"

3. open File/Page setup again and click on "Default"

Does that do it?

Please report back so we know what works (or doesn't)!

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/index.html>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

On 4/2/03 12:13 PM, in article BAB0844E.507A%pikem...@yahoo.com, "Pike"