# Microsoft Word 2003 page background colors vanish when printed or converted to PDF
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 7, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461 "2008-03-07T17:28:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461/1 "2008-03-07T17:28:53Z")
What am I doing wrong? I have a neat gold background color on the MS word 2003 document I am editing. When I go to print to the color laser or print the page as PDF the gold fill background color vanishes and it reverts to black text on a white background , although the jpg logo graphic I have at the top prints and converts fine.
Why won’t the background colors stick when being printed or converted?
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### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461/2 "2008-03-07T17:33:35Z")
I don’t know why, but it’s normal. The “background” function is only meant to be viewed on screen.
If you want to make a background, you can add an object that covers the entire page, fill it with the color, and then order it to the back.
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### Author:  [@JustThinkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustThinkin)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461/3 "2008-03-07T17:35:25Z")
Dude - slow down!!
I vaguely remember there’s something odd about backgrounds (inserted via Format, Background) in Word, but I don’t remember what it is. If I use a background, I always insert the background into the document header.
It might be a file format your printer doesn’t like or Word doesn’t like. See if the [Word MVPs](http://word.mvps.org/faqs/drwgrphcs/invisiblegraphics.htm) have the answer you need.
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### Author:  [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2008, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461/4 "2008-03-09T09:44:15Z")
**astro** ,
To enable printing background colors, try this:
On the Main Menu, click Tools–\>Options
Click on the Print tab.
Click the “Background colors and images” checkbox
Click the “OK” button
It annoyed me to no end until I stumbled upon this option when I was looking for something else.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461/5 "2008-03-10T00:25:07Z")
[QUOTE=Caractacus Pott]
**astro** ,
To enable printing background colors, try this:
On the Main Menu, click Tools–\>Options
Click on the Print tab.
Click the “Background colors and images” checkbox
Click the “OK” button
It annoyed me to no end until I stumbled upon this option when I was looking for something else.
[/QUOTE]
That worked. Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-2003-page-background-colors-vanish-when-printed-or-converted-to-pdf/440461/6 "2008-03-10T06:09:35Z")
No problemo.