Background is now black and cannot fix

[penglvr]

I just started experiencing this today. When I open a Word document, the background of it is all black. The header and footer are white, but the text area is all black. I have made sure there are no borders. I have made sure there is no shading. I have cleared the styles and fonts. Here's is what it looks like on a new document and on an old document. Page one is the old document (I had to change the font color to white to see it) and page two is a new document. Yes, I know it's the same file, but page 2 is what I see when I open a new document, even a template. Help!

[Stefan Blom]

At a guess, you have the "Black" Theme selected in Office? Make sure that you also choose the option "Never change the document page color" at File > Options > General.

I don't use the "Black" Theme so I am seeing white text on white background when I open your document. I can select all with Ctrl+A and then change the text color to "Automatic." See the screen shot.

[Italophile]

Originally Posted by penglvr

When I open a Word document, the background of it is all black. The header and footer are white, but the text area is all black.

This has nothing to do with the black theme. If the page had been turned black by the theme the header and footer would also be black.

In your sample document someone has manually changed the font to white. Applying the black theme, or using dark mode, does not alter the font color. It merely changes how the text colors are displayed whilst in dark mode.

[Stefan Blom]

Here is what is shown when the Black theme has been selected in Office.

As I said, the underlying issue is that you need to change the text color.

Compare also the screen shots uploaded by Italophile.

[Italophile]

Your issue is not theme related and there is nothing in the sample document that you uploaded.

It could be a graphics issue. Are you having issues in other applications?

[penglvr]

Yes, I altered the text to white so I could see it. I am not on Dark mode - double checked that. I am using the default Microsoft theme. I checked "Never change the page color." But you can see the attachment as white font on a white background? Then it's obviously my laptop. When I print, it does not print the black bar but again, since the font is white, so I can see what I'm typing, it prints the font white, so I just get a blank page. UGH. Alright, I guess it's time to contact the Geek Squad. Thank you for your help.

[penglvr]

P.S. I am not having this issue in any other application.

[Stefan Blom]

Thanks for the follow-up. Since you changed the color to see the text, I am now thinking that one of the high contrast themes/settings in Windows could be the culprit. However, if other programs are not affected at all, then I doubt that high contrast could be the issue.

P.S. Terminology is ambiguous here. Word and the other Office applications have Office Themes which can be used to alter the appearance of the user interface in the applications. There are also Document Themes which change the formatting in Word documents (and these Themes can be applied to Excel worksheets and PowerPoint presentations as well). Finally, I now mentioned Themes that control the appearance of the operating system itself.

[Charles Kenyon]

Try selecting the text and changing the color to "Automatic."