Microsoft Word 97

Write on Wood, Marble, Stone

Summary: Add texture and other background effects to your Word 97 documents.

Word 97 has some very interesting effects. Did you know that you could change Word’s background color? How about giving your document a gradient fill or a background texture? It’s all available – if you know where to look.

Click on the “Format” menu and select “Background”. A side menu will appear giving you several options. If you click on a color, the Word document’s background will change to that color. Fun? You haven’t seen anything yet.

Do the above, but instead of clicking on a color, click on “Fill Effects”. Now, a multi-tabbed dialog box will appear. Here’s what you can do by clicking on the various tabs.

Gradient: Want to give your document background a gradient look, where two colors blend into each other? You can change the colors, shading styles, and more.

Texture: Right now, I’m typing this document on a wooden texture. Choose your desired texture from those given, or click on Other Texture to bring in another bitmap as your texture.

Pattern: Choose a pattern from those given, such as bricks, diagonal lines, and more. You can change the foreground and background colors by clicking on the desired pulldowns.

Picture: Click on the “Select picture” button and you can bring in any picture as your background! Your picture will tile and/or expand as needed.

Just when you thought I couldn’t possibly come up with any other way to reduce your productivity in Word, I accomplish that feat. Have fun!