If you ask a group of writers about their favourite writing software, you’ll end up with tons of different answers – and clever technical people are coming up with new offerings all the time! The one thing you can almost guarantee, however, is that any mention of Microsoft Word will be met with cries of frustration and proclamations about other software being far easier to use.
But I’m a writer, and I love Word. There. I’ve said it.
I’ve tried and tested plenty of other methods too, when I’ve convinced myself the words aren’t coming because I’m stuck staring at a blank white page… But none of these other programs have ever stuck, and Word is what I go back to time and time again. It’s also invaluable for my editing work, and makes formatting and copy-editing manuscripts much simpler!
So this series of blogs – How to use Word like a professional editor – is partly about me standing up for the much-maligned Office program, and partly about sharing my knowledge in case it helps someone else who may be struggling with it! This is the second one, and I intend to keep adding to it regularly until I’ve exhausted all my Word tips and tricks! You can find the first one, on how to use the navigation pane, here.
Now, let’s get to the good stuff…
What is dark mode and how does it help?
A “dark mode” is a display setting that changes the default colour scheme of a program to darker colours, usually flipping from dark text on a light background to light text on a dark background.
The creators of most popular social media apps recognise that staring at a stark white screen for hours every day can play havoc with our vision, and they offer a dark mode version that’s a little easier on the eye.
But fewer people realise that you can change the default colours of your Word document too!
How do I turn dark mode on and off?
To change the colours of your Word document, you need to click “File” on the menu ribbon at the top of the screen, and then click on “Account”.
Your screen will look something like this…
The setting you’re looking for is “Office Theme” (highlighted with a red arrow on the screenshot above). It’ll probably be set to “Use system setting” at the moment.
Using the drop-down menu under “Office Theme”, change the theme to “Black”.
The background colour of the window will instantly change.
When you click the back button to get back to your document view, it should now be a lot easier on the eye!
Other than the default colours of the text and background, everything else about the app will continue to work as before; you can still change the colour of the text manually or make visible track changes/comments, and all of these changes will be unaffected by swapping between light and dark mode.
You can switch back to the previous display settings at any time – if you decide your eyes are well-rested enough – by simply going back to “File” > “Account” > “Office Theme” as you did before and choose your preferred setting.
Note: This setting is for Word generally, rather than for the specific document you’re working on, so it will affect any and all Word documents you open until you change it back.
It’s also worth saying that this is a personal setting for your computer. If you create or edit a document in this dark mode and then send it to someone else, it will open on their computer using their Word settings instead – likely the default lighter system settings.
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