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Customize the look of your document with background colors and images. You can choose a default background color for the entire document and change the color or image for the background of individual sections.

Set the document background color

To set a default background color for the entire document:

1. From the File or Edit toolbar, click Properties and select Document.
2. Go to the Page Formats tab.
3. In the Background section, click the Color icon.
4. Choose a color from the palette. For a custom color, enter a HEX number or RGB code, or you can import your own colors. 
   
5. Click Save Changes.

The default background color is set for the entire document. Any sections with their own background color or image remain the same. You can change the background color for a section using the Section Properties panel.

Remove the document background color

To remove the background color from the entire document:

1. From the File or Edit toolbar, click Properties and select Document.
2. Go to the Page Formats tab.
3. In the Background section, click the Color icon.
4. Select the No Color tile at the top of the color palette.  
   
5. Click Save Changes.

The background color is removed from the document. Any sections with their own background color or image remain the same.

Set section background color

You can also change the background color of a section, even if there is a background color set for the entire document. If you set a section background color, it overrides the default document color. 

The background color of a page is determined by the properties set for the first section to appear on that page.

To change the background color of a section:

1. Select the section from the document outline. 
2. Open the Section Properties panel.
3. In the Background section, click the Color icon.
4. Choose a color from the palette. For a custom color, enter a hex number or RGB code, or you can import your own colors. 
   
    

The background color is applied to each page that has only this section or starts with this section.

Remove section background color

To remove the background color of an individual section:

1. Select the section from the document outline. 
2. Open the Section Properties panel. 
3. In the Background section, click the Color icon.
4. Select the No Color tile at the top of the color palette.  
   
   You can also click the reset icon to clear the section background.

The color is removed from the background of the section and returns to the default background color of the document.

Add section background image

To use an image as the background of a section:

1. Select the section from the document outline.
2. Open the Section properties panel. 
3. In the Background section, browse for or drag and drop an image file.
   
4. Select your image.

The image is added to the background of the section and overrides the default background set for the document. Images will be brought in as full pages and currently unable to be cropped.

Note: Background images are not currently supported for EDGAR filing documents. 

Remove section background image

To remove an image from the background of a section:

1. Select the section from the document outline.
2. Open the Section properties panel. 
3. In the Background section, click the ( x ) icon to remove the image. 
   

The image is removed from the background of the section.

Related articles

Document and section properties

Use custom colors