To add some extra visual interest to your document, add a background color using the Page Color button. You can also add a watermark.
Add or change the background color
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Go to Design > Page Color.
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Choose the color you want under Theme Colors or Standard Colors.
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If you don’t see the color you want, select More Colors, and then choose a color from the Colors box.
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To add a gradient, texture, pattern, or picture, select Fill Effects, and then go to Gradient, Texture, Pattern, or Picture and select an option.
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Patterns and textures are repeated (or “tiled”) to fill the entire page. If you save your document as a webpage, the textures are saved as JPEG files, and the patterns and gradients are saved as PNG files.
Remove the background color
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Go to Design > Page Color.
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Select No Color.
Important:
Office 2010 is no longer supported. Upgrade to Microsoft 365 to work anywhere from any device and continue to receive support.
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You can use gradients, patterns, pictures, solid colors, or textures for backgrounds. Gradients, patterns, pictures, and textures are tiled or repeated to fill the page. If you save a document as a webpage, the pictures, textures, and gradients are saved as JPEG files and the patterns are saved as GIF files.
Add or change the background color
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Go to Page Layout > Page Color.
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Do any of the following:
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Select a from Theme Colors or Standard Colors.
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Select More Colors and then choose a color.
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Select Fill Effects to add special effects, such as gradients, patterns, or textures.
Note: Select the color that you want before you apply a gradient or pattern.
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Remove a background
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Go to Page Layout > Page Color.
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Select No Color.
Change the background color
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Go to Design > Page Color.
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Choose the color you want. If you don’t see the color you want, select More Colors and then pick a color from any of the options in the Color box.
Tips:
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To pick a color from a file, select the picture image, click the gear icon, and select New from File.
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Remove the background color
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Go to Design > Page Color
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Select No Color.
I can easily change the page color of every pages in my document thanks to the Page Layout Tab in the Ribbon, but I would like to change the color of a single page.
Any idea about how to to this with Word 2010 ?
studiohack♦
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asked Oct 26, 2010 at 14:15
Unfortunately, Microsoft Word has no option to change color of individual pages in a document. Since it is hardcoded in the program, there is no way to change this behavior (page color always applies to whole document).
However, there is a workaround. If you cover the page with a text box and fill the text box with whatever color you want, you can have individually colored pages. This is not a productive method but the only one I can suggest.
studiohack♦
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answered Oct 26, 2010 at 14:43
0
Create a specific section for your page, then use the header/footer to insert a full-page rectangle with your specific color.
Mark the checkbox «different first page»
Ivo Flipse
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answered Oct 26, 2010 at 14:42
tbolontbolon
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Insert a shape (square). Drag it by its handles to fit the extremities of the page. Choose ‘Behind text’ in Wrap Text. Tint it in ‘Fill’ menu. This will print just for this page.
answered Jan 27, 2012 at 1:45
namename
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Create a seperate document titled «Cover Page…(your document title)». This way they save together in the document folder. So dumb that in 2010 they still can’t create different cover page color as has been requested for years, but this work around is so much easier than other options I have heard.
Bonus? You get to view side-by-side with your document when creating your table of contents (if you have one).
answered Feb 18, 2011 at 3:48
Create separate documents for each set of differently colored pages. For each set of pages, change the background color. Change all separate documents into .pdfs. Then merge the documents into a single .pdf. Each section will have its own page color
answered Nov 30, 2011 at 12:00
2
In Word 2007
- Draw a box (Insert -> Shapes …select the rectangle)
- Set the box’s colour (Format -> Shape Fill)
- Put the box behind the text (Format -> Send to Back -> Send behind text)
- Resize the box to fill the page (drag the handles)
- On a different page set the background colour for the rest of the document (Page Layout -> Page Color)
This avoids having text within a text box, yet enables individual page colours to be different.
answered Dec 21, 2015 at 17:03
You can’t change the background color of just one page. The background color applies to the whole document.
answered Oct 26, 2010 at 14:26
divideddivided
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In Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Windows 7 it is quite easy to do. If you have already printed the page you want coloured, draw a ‘text box’ to cover the whole page and click on the ‘fill’ colour you want. Stretch the box to completely fill the page, then go to ‘Text Wrapping’ and click on ‘behind text’. This gives you your single coloured page.
Once you print it, it will say you are outside the printable area — ignore this and it should print the whole page.
answered Mar 15, 2013 at 14:48
go to tools then to merge documents then individual coloured pages than customise
answered Sep 22, 2013 at 14:20
It can be done. Highlight the words on the page then hit the color fill and select your color you prefer. You can color one page and not the others. What a beautiful sight.
answered Jan 21, 2014 at 3:40
In Word 2010:
— Insert/Shapes: Click the rectangular shape
— Draw the it in the page you want to change color
— Fill the rectangular with the color you want
— Format/Text Wrapping/In Front of Text
— Drag and enlarge the rectangular to the whole page
answered Feb 11, 2014 at 21:12
There is a way. You need to put your background in the header of each page and strech. Once you do that then creat a new section and repeat every time you want to change the background
answered Sep 9, 2014 at 13:48
It can’t be done properly, but if you go on images and type in the color you want, copy it, then paste it, and right click on it and press wrap text: then press wrap behind text, that will work.Then just make it fill the whole page. You can also do the near same thing by going on insert, then pictures, then choosing your picture. Right click on it and click wrap text, then behind text. Stretch out the picture until it fills the whole page.
answered Dec 10, 2012 at 16:13
I use Microsoft Word 2010 and I simply insert a cover page at the top of the document from the Insert tab. I then choose the preset cover page sample called ‘Perspective’ which has a gradient background. I remove/change the mountain picture as required and change the colour of the gradient or change it into a solid fill, use a pattern, texture or even picture backgrounds as usual. Remember to do this on the document you are actually working on. You will not be able insert any pages that you have been working on as separate document.
If you want to insert different coloured pages in between, then you can try setting the page margins to ‘narrow’ from the page layout tab and then simply draw a rectangle or insert a coloured text box that is as big as the borders and then choose ‘send backward’—> ‘send behind text’ from the format tab.
Alternatively, if you are not forced to use Word, you could try using Publisher instead, which would definitely make life so much easier on this aspect.
answered Nov 20, 2014 at 10:39
This a bit of an advanced method but super effective and requires the use of «InDesign» if you want to go the extra mile and you’re allowed to Submit in a .PDF format.
1.Create your first color page (save it as PDF)
2.create your second color page (do the same)
3.Open Indesign and place the pages accordingly.
Bonus: You can even make it look either like a normal page by page paper or a magazine-like paper!
answered Dec 5, 2014 at 15:55
1
We can use a rectangular shape and fill it with the color, or we can create a black picture in paint, and then can place it in word… remember to use ‘send to background’ after right clicking it 
answered May 23, 2015 at 12:33
Here is the solution.
First of all you cannot apply page colour to one separate page using the ‘Page Color’ option on the ‘Design’ tab.
However, there is one simple procedure to apply color for a single page using text box, which is explained in the following procedure:
- Go to a page for which you wish to apply page color.
- On the Insert menu, click Text Box > Draw Text Box.
- Select the text box, go to Shape Fill and select the color you wish to apply for the page.
- Select the text box, click Shape Outline> No Outline. Once this step has been followed, outline of the text box disappears.
- Now drag this text box till the edge of page. Make sure you have dragged the
- Again select the text box, select Wrap Text > Behind Text.
- Now the page color has been applied to the required page.
answered May 26, 2015 at 11:54
Normally, when you apply the Page Color feature to insert page color to a Word document, all the pages of the document will be applied the same color. However, if you want to change one page color with another color, this article, I will talk about how to deal with it in Word file.
Change background color of one page in a Word document
Change background color of one page in a Word document
May be, there is no direct way to change one page’s color to differ with the whole document, but, you can use the following workaround to finish it. Please do as this:
1. Go the page of the document that you want to change its page color, and then click Insert > Shapes > Rectangle, see screenshot:
2. Then drag the mouse to draw a rectangle which as large as the Word page, and then, in the Format tab, choose one color that you want to apply for the page under the Shape Fill drop down, see screenshot:
3. And then keep the rectangle selected , click Format > Send Backward > Send Behind Text, see screenshot:
4. Now, the rectangle has been inserted behind the text, and the page color is changed as following screenshot shown:
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How to color pages in a Word document
Learn three easy ways to add a bit of color to the pages of your Microsoft Word document.
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Adding a bit of color is an easy way to liven up or otherwise add a professional touch to a Microsoft Word document. You might decide to add a sedate color to a promotional letter or resume. Or you might want to add a meaningful color, such as a team color to a booster letter. Whatever your reasons, it’s easy to add color to all of the pages in your document. It takes a bit more work to colorize individual pages. In this article, I’ll show you how to do both, and a bit more.
SEE: 60 Excel tips every user should master
I’m using Microsoft 365 on a Windows 10 64-bit system, but you can use earlier versions. There’s no downloadable demonstration file; you won’t need one. The browser edition is unreliable displaying colors.
How to add one color to all pages in Word
If you run out of color print paper, you can quickly add color to every page in your Word document and then print the document. For most if it, the ink will cost more than colored paper, so I don’t recommend doing this all the time. If the document’s going to the web or via email, there’s no cost to you at all!
SEE: How to manipulate multiple graphic files at the same time in a Word document (TechRepublic)
To color the pages of a document, click the Design tab and then click Page Color in the Page Background group. Choose a color from the dropdown palette or choose More Colors or even Fill Effects. Later, you can explore both of the latter options, but for now, let’s stick with colors in the existing palette. If you want a border, click the Page Borders option. We won’t discuss every option, but Figure A shows a two-page document with a light blue background and a dark green border.
Figure A
Using the Page Color and Page Borders options, it took less than a minute. That was easy, but you won’t always want to add color to every page.
How to add one color for a single page in Word
For better or worse, Word offers no option for adding a background color to a single page or multiple pages. It’s an all-or-nothing setting. If you want to color a single or multiple pages, but not the entire document, you can insert a rectangle shape sized to fit the page and set a few properties. Now, let’s use this method on the second page of a three-page document:
- Click the Insert tab, click Shapes in the Illustrations group, click the Rectangle shape and size it to the paper (Figure B).
- From the Shape Fill dropdown in the Shape Styles group, choose a color from the palette.
- With the rectangle selected, click the Send Backward option in the Arrange group, and choose Send Behind Text (Figure C).
Figure B
Figure C
Using this method, you could add more than one color to the background by using multiple rectangles, or even other shapes, but I recommend you keep it simple. To add a border, add a second rectangle, size it appropriately, and then remove the fill color and add a border color.
SEE: How to use the Dictate feature instead of typing in Microsoft Word (Tech Republic)
Once you have the rectangle and properties set (Figure D) you can quickly copy it to other pages. With the rectangle selected, press Ctrl+D to make a copy. Drag that copy and position it on another page. With this method, you can change the color for different pages.
Figure D
Make sure your colored page prints
If the background color doesn’t print, there’s an easy fix. Click the File tab and choose Display in the left pane. In the Printing options section, make sure the Print background colors and images option is checked, as shown in Figure E. The problem is that few printers can fulfill the promise. Most will leave a small uncolored border around the edges of the sheet of paper. There’s nothing you can do about this.
Figure E
How to color only one section of a page in Word
If you don’t want to color the entire page, you might want to consider adding color as a paragraph format. The good news is that it’s easy to apply or remove—you don’t even need a text box!
SEE: 4 tips for working more efficiently with footnotes and endnotes in Word (TechRepublic)
First, select the paragraph(s) you want to color. Then, in the Paragraph group, click the Shading dropdown and choose a color from the palette. As you can see in Figure F, I’ve used a light blue to shade a few paragraphs. You could use this method to color the entire portion of the page that’s inside the borders, leaving the borders white. The color is a paragraph property, so if you move the paragraph, the color goes with it.
Figure F
Stay tuned
Adding filled rectangles could be tedious work. But you’re in luck if you’re willing to add sections to the document. In a subsequent article, I’ll show you how to color the background of all the pages in a section with one rectangle.
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In fact, in a professional way in Word, you do not have the option to change the page colour in Word.
However, if you are familiar with Word, you need to come up with an idea of how to add your favourite colours to the background of your favourite pages. If you still do not have an idea, follow the steps below.
Table of Contents
- How to Change Page Color in Word
- Set Printable Background Color and Image
- How to Remove Background Color in Word
- How to Change Background Color on Each Page in Word
- Other Way to Make Background Color
Initially, make sure your document has fewer pages along with content.
After that, on the “Insert” tab, in the “Illustrations” group, click on “Shapes” to expand its list.
Then select a rectangle and draw on the first page.
On the drawing tools format tab, click “Wrap Text” and select behind text if your document has text.
Now zoom out the document to reduce its size so that you can change the size equal to the page and adjust the shape evenly across the page as in the picture below.
Since the default page colour is blue, click on the “Shape fill” on the Format tab and select the colour of your choice.
Now if you want to change the page background colour to the next page, duplicate the existing shape (To duplicate it, select the shape and press Ctrl+D) and click and hold down the left mouse button, then drag and drop to the next page. And adjust the shape evenly across the page as in the picture below.
Since the duplicate shape colour is the same as the first shape, click on the shape fill on the Format tab and click the shape fill and select the colour of your choice.
In this way, you can (change the paper colour) and set the background colour for different pages in Word.
Set Printable Background Color and Image
To print all the pages with the background colour, do the following:
Click the file menu to navigate its options
Now select “Options”
In the dialogue box, click “Display” and make sure the ticks “Print drawings created in Word and “Print background colours and images”.
How to Remove Background Color in Word
Select the shape and click “delete” or “backspace” to remove the page colour in word.
How to Change Background Color on Each Page in Word
Changing the paper background colour is the same as explained in the steps to change the page colour in Word.
Other Way to Make Background Color
On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click “Text Box” and select “Draw Text Box”
On the drawing tools format tab, click “Wrap Text” and select “Behind text” if your document has text.
Now zoom out the document to reduce its size so that you can change the shape equal to the page size and adjust the shape evenly across the page.
Now click on the “Shape fill” on the Format tab and select the colour of your choice. In this way, you can change the page colour in a word document.
Can we change the page colour in Word?
In fact, in a professional way in Word, you do not have the option to change the page colour in word. However, if you are familiar with Word, you need to come up with an idea of how to add your favourite colours to the background of your favourite pages.