MS Word 2002 SP3 Oddity (CLOSED)

[Vandren]

Ok, this is really more an annoyance than an issue.

For some reason Word has decided that, in one file only, the Table of Contents and Header page numbers need a grey background color.  This only happens in Print Layout View (my preferred view), not in Web or Normal View.  The background does not print or show up in print preview.

It's not a big thing, but it's driving me nuts.

Any idea how to get a clear, white background back?

I've tried using Format -> Background -> No Fill (which bumps me out of Print Layout and into Web Layout but doesn't fix the problem).  I've tried changing the background under Styles & Formatting too, no dice.

[Geraint]

Ok, this is really more an annoyance than an issue.

For some reason Word has decided that, in one file only, the Table of Contents and Header page numbers need a grey background color.  This only happens in Print Layout View (my preferred view), not in Web or Normal View.  The background does not print or show up in print preview.

It's not a big thing, but it's driving me nuts.

Any idea how to get a clear, white background back?

I've tried using Format -> Background -> No Fill (which bumps me out of Print Layout and into Web Layout but doesn't fix the problem).  I've tried changing the background under Styles & Formatting too, no dice.

I have Office 2003, which is pretty much the same.  I get that gray background in the TOC if I have it automatically generated the TOC from nested headlines (as I used to do with large documents).  It becomes a series of updatable hyperlinks to the sections, generated by Word.  That's basically it's way of telling you that it generated it, and that you can't change it other than updating the headings in the text it came from and then regenerating or updating the table.  As you observed, it doesn't print gray.

That may not be what you are seeing, but that's what it sounds like to me.

[Vandren]

I have a few dozen files with ToCs, all generated the exact same way.  This is the only file that this has happened to, so I'm guessing it's something I accidentally did.  Also, the effect started happening a couple days ago, the ToC was created a month ago.

[Geraint]

If it otherwise fits what I described, try clicking on one of the other TOCs.  The phenomenon that I described only happens if you actually click on the TOC, and the gray goes away if you then click on the document somewhere outside of the TOC.  That's the way it works for me at least.

If not, then sorry I couldn't help.

If I recall correctly (which I may not given how long ago it was) it only showed up after SP3.

[Geraint]

And if it's not that, you may want to check out this link.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Microsoft-Word-1058/Gray-highlighting-behind-characters.htm

And then this one:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Microsoft-Word-1058/f/Gray-highlighting-behind-characters.htm

I believe the field shading option is one of those settings that can vary by document, which could explain why you only see it on one document. 

Depending on your compatability settings in "options", I think that "when selected" is generally the default.   "Never" should work for you.

[Vandren]

The phenomenon that I described only happens if you actually click on the TOC, and the gray goes away if you then click on the document somewhere outside of the TOC.

That's how it normally works, how its supposed to work.  I'm not clicking on the ToC.  :)

I'll check the links, see what happens.

[Vandren]

It was the Field Shading.