# Open Office question, custom background colors?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-office-question-custom-background-colors/399835>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 12, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-office-question-custom-background-colors/399835 "2007-04-12T18:28:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-office-question-custom-background-colors/399835/1 "2007-04-12T18:28:45Z")

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ok what I am trying to do is make a weekly schedule that has days across the top of the page and each hour down the page.  
since a large part of my schedule is static I use color for the hours I teach class with each class getting its own color.

the problem is that I want some very faint colors. I write on this schedule and want to be able to read the text and there is no reason for super dark colors on something this disposable.

with word I can go in and create custom colors with a slider bar, with OpenOffice I cant find how to do this. anyone know if its even possible?

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**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-office-question-custom-background-colors/399835/2 "2007-04-12T20:30:59Z")

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It’s possible, but clumsy. You’d think you could select a custom colour from a wheel, but no, apparently this isn’t considered necessary. While I like OO, there are some things about it that drive me batty, and I’ve just found another.

However: what you can do is:

Tools -\> Options -\> Colors (under [OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) on the left) and then either edit an existing colour or add a new one. When adding, if you click the Edit button, you get the option to select a colour from a palette, or just enter RGB values directly.

Annoying… but there you go.

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**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-office-question-custom-background-colors/399835/3 "2007-04-13T05:03:46Z")

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thanks for the find, at least you can add the custom colors and only have to go through the proccess once.