Why background colour menu items are greyd-out?

[pegasus]

In Word 2003 I find the 'background color' and 'line color' drop-down menus
greyed out, on a document shared by others (but which I can edit) - this
means that I cannot remove highlighting before moving the document on to an
outside user. How do I get that functionality back?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Where are you seeing these dropdown menus?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[pegasus]

Where are you seeing these dropdown menus?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If highlighting has been applied using the Highlighter or Format | Borders
and Shading (or using Track Changes), then the Fill and Outline colors will
not apply. The buttons on the drawing toolbar apply only to AutoShapes
(including text boxes), not to tables or ordinary text. You may be confusing
them with the Shading and Border buttons on the Tables and Borders toolbar,
which use the same icons.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[pegasus]

Thanks for that, Suzanne - it would be quite a good idea for MSoft to have
just one way of highlighting stuff in files, I think

A very Happy New Year to you!

Tom Wilson

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Text and drawing objects are entirely different animals, and the Highlighter
is quite different from either. Text shading provides a useful alternative
to the Highlighter, whose limited palette includes so few usable colors.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org