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How to Print in Color on Word

Word documents don’t have to look conventionally boring with black texts over a white background. There are ways to spice it up and add a little touch of uniqueness to each document, one of which is the use of background colors and images.

Given that most documents will end up being read digitally, Microsoft doesn’t enable the option to print documents in color by default, making every document you print come out as ‘black on white.’

However, with just a few tweaks in the settings, you should be able to get Word to print in color, with all background images, colors, and filters still intact. Read on below to find out how!

print-in-color-in-word

How to Enable Background Colors & Images Print

The fact that Word allows you to choose from a plethora of fill effects ranging from pictures, gradients, patterns, and textures is a nice addition. However, where you face the real hurdle is when you’re done embedding the gradients or any other colorful background of your choice and intend to print them.

Thankfully, you can overcome this hurdle by diving into the settings. To print in color,

  • Open your Word document with an image, pattern, or gradient background
  • Click the File tab at the top menu
  • Navigate down the list of options and click Print on the left pane. You should get a print preview of your document from here but without your embedded background, which simply means that Word won’t print the said document in color
  • Next, go back and click on the Options on the left pane of the File tab
  • On the Word Options page, click Display on the left pane
  • Next, navigate to Printing Options on the right pane and ensure the following options are checked: Print Drawings Created in Word, Print Background Colors, and Images
  • Once you can see a tick-mark inside the boxes next to the options mentioned above, click OK to save all changes and return to the document
  • Next, click the File tab once again and select Print to see the preview of your document
  • If the preview has your embedded background images intact this time, it means Word can now print the document in that form
  • Finally, click on Print to begin the printing process of your document

How to Disable Background Printing on Word

Word doesn’t save the changes made to your printing options temporarily, thus necessitating another dive into the settings to put things back in place. Thankfully, doing so is just as easy as the previous steps demonstrated above if you ever need to reverse the changes. Follow the steps below:

  • Follow the previous steps fill you get to step 6
  • This time, uncheck Print Drawings Created in Word & Print Background Colors and Images

Final Notes

While you should immediately be able to print in colors after following the steps demonstrated above, it’s worth pointing out that some users are still having issues with the feature as it’s not stable on older versions of the app. Ensure you’re running the latest version of Word to be able to use this feature without hiccups.