> > background. Can this color be changed?Thanks all those who replied, as I was hunting for solutions :)
I have checked and both 'MacOS system highlight' and 'Microsoft Word page color' solutions are valid. However changing page color is not desirable as this value is save in the document and applies only to the Page View. The system option requires Word to restart, which makes initial testing of colors tiresome but is a more coherent use of MacOS features.
More importantly, the highlight color needs to be more visible when in Accessibility high-contrast mode - which is great for distraction free or nighttime writing. Word for Mac 2016 has a Focus Mode but it requires an Office 365 Subscription. Without this, a distraction free, 'night mode' can be achieved by setting Word in Fullscreen, hiding its ribbons and using system Accessibility features (Display > Invert + Grayscale + Differentiate + Increase contrast + Display contrast up a notch).
Finding the right highlight color is tricky as text color does not always invert, and Word for Mac appears to overlay a shade of the system highlight color. So when in high-contrast mode a system highlight color that was good for the system was not clear enough in Word, and when it was clear enough for Word it was too strong for the system. For example, 'Graphite' (#d8d8dc, ~85% gray) was too light in night-mode. And with 'Other...' set to 50% gray, in normal mode this was too dark for the system but ok in Word, and vice versa in night mode. Therefore I would suggest setting the system highlight color to 66% gray, which gives an equal perceptual weight of highlight in both normal and night mode.
All the best,
Mike
As mentioned by Patty, to change MacOS system highlight:
> from Mac OS X System Preferences.As mentioned by Zedsdea, adjust the highlight in Word by changing the page color:
> Specifically, go into the Appearance window and
> choose a color from the Highlight Color list. (The bottom entry on
> the list is 'Other,' where you can choose your own color from all
> of the usual OS X color options.)
You probably know how to select text on your Mac for copying, pasting or deleting: Just hold down the mouse button over the text, drag it to select the lines you want, and let go of the mouse. Once TextEdit opens the web page, you can print it from there and you'll have a perfect print, as long as TextEdit renders the HTML file (which may not always be the case until Apple unifies the HTML rendering library in Mac OS X with WebCore). robg adds: I don't do a lot of web printing, but I did notice a couple of glitches in Safari's.
Mac Os X Pages Highlight Text Generator
Instructions for older OS X installations If you get to TextEdit and there is NOT a highlight button or option (as indicated in my instructions above) you need to do Step Two differently. Copy any one of the following colored text examples, and paste it into TextEdit. Use each color to create the highlights you wish to save as a style. Add a highlight effect to text in Pages on Mac You can add color behind any selection of text—individual characters, words, or entire paragraphs—to create a highlight effect. Note: You can also highlight text for review purposes by using tools in the review toolbar and commands in the Insert menu. From selecting part of webpage or text in a document, to identifying a command in Terminal, to clicking on a file on your Mac desktop, OS X uses a color to highlight and denote the user’s selection. For years, the default highlight color has been a light blue, and this color has become part of OS X’s unique look and feel.