Microsoft Word 97 – Write on Wood, Marble, Stone

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!