Word: Copied text with a gray background - what to do?
If you paste a text copied from a website into Word, it is often highlighted in gray or a different color. This practical tip shows you how to remove the colored background.
Remove the background color of a gray text in Word
If the text is free, it is simply highlighted in color. Follow these steps to remove the background color from the text.
- Select the text and right-click on it.
- A context menu appears in which you can change the background color (see screenshot).
- Select "No color" here.
Remove shading from copied text
If you have copied a text from a table, the colored background mostly comes from the shading of the table. An HTML table is not always recognizable as such - try this step even if you assume that the text does not come from a table.
- Select the text with a gray background again.
- Now switch to the "Design" tab and click on "Shading". Note: In MS Office 2010 or older you have to right-click on the selected text and select "Frames and Shades". There you can remove the color of the shading.
- Also select "No color".
Copied text in Word with a gray background: delete formatting
If your text is still colored, you can delete all formatting. However, you also remove bold parts, underlining and other structuring of the text.
- Mark the relevant text passages as usual.
- Click "Clear all formatting" in the top toolbar. You can see exactly how the symbol looks in the screenshot.
