How to Change the Background Color in Google Docs

Working on documents in Google Docs day in and day out can get visually monotonous. Staring at the same bright white background all the time can even cause eye strain. Fortunately, Google Docs allows you to easily customize the background color of your documents to suit your preferences.

Changing the background not only makes your work more visually appealing, but can also help with readability and focus. For example, switching to a grayscale or dark mode background can reduce glare on your screen. And using subtle background colors can help highlight key sections without being distracting.

In this article, I’ll walk you through multiple methods to change background color in Google Docs, along with tips for choosing the right hues for readability.

Why Change the Background Color in Google Docs

Before jumping into the how-to, let’s first cover some of the benefits of changing your background beyond just aesthetics:

Reduces eye strain: Staring at a bright screen all day can cause headaches and fatigue. Switching to a darker or grayscale backdrop gives your eyes a break.
Enhances focus: Subtle color backgrounds can help highlight key content without being distracting. This helps guide the reader.

Adds visual interest: Varying colors and shades makes your documents more visually stimulating and appealing.
Suits personal preference: We all have different color preferences. Customizing the backdrop allows you to match your style.
Indicates document purpose: Using color strategically can delineate types of documents at a glance, like proposals versus reports.

Improves readability: Proper color contrast between background and text enhances readability by making the text “pop” more.

Now that you know why changing background color can be beneficial, let’s get into how to actually do it in Google Docs.

How to Change Background Color in Google Docs

Google Docs offers a few different ways to modify the background color:

Page color: Changes backdrop of the entire document
Text background color: Changes color behind a text selection
Table cell background: Changes cell background in tables

Below I’ll cover the steps for each method, along with tips on choosing the right hues.

Changing Page Color for Entire Document

The page color option allows you to set a background color or image that persists throughout the entire document. Here’s how:

Open the Google Doc you want to modify.

Select File from the top menu.
Choose Page setup from the drop-down menu.
Select the Page Color tab.

Click the color box to open the color picker.
Choose the desired shade from the palette.
Click OK to apply it.

That’s all there is to it! The new color will now fill the entire page background.

Pro tip: Try lighter tints of colors like gray, blue, green, or yellow. Dark bold hues can make reading difficult. Avoid pure whites which can strain eyes.

Changing Text Background Color

Rather than the whole document, you can also selectively change the background behind a portion of text:

Select the text you want to adjust.
Click the Text background color icon in the toolbar (looks like a highlighted A).
Choose a color from the popup.

The text background will change while the rest of the doc remains the same.

This is handy for highlighting key quotes, text boxes, and call-out elements.

Pro tip: Make sure to choose a color that contrasts well with the font color for readability.

Changing Table Cell Background

Tables are another common Google Docs element where you may want to customize the background:

Select the table cells you want to modify.
Right click and choose Table cell background.

Pick a color from the menu.
The cells will adapt while keeping borders intact.

Use this to delineate header rows or columns in complex tables.

Pro tip: Add conditional formatting rules to automatically alternate row colors for better readability.

Choosing the Right Background Color

Now that you know how to apply color backgrounds in Google Docs, let’s go over some tips for choosing suitable hues:

Light backgrounds are best for readability since stark contrasts with dark font are easiest to read. Shoot for light tints of color.

Avoid pure blacks or whites as large blocks of bold color are hard on eyes. Use dark/light gray instead.
Readability still trumps aesthetics – no matter how pretty the color, text should still be clearly legible.
Pay attention to font colors and make sure there is enough contrast between text and background for the words to “pop”.

Use color strategically – brightly colored elements will draw the eye first, so use intentionally to highlight key points.
Color psychology applies – some hues have cultural associations, like red for urgency, green for stability.

Follow the above guidelines and test different shades to find background colors that are both aesthetically pleasing but also easy to read.

More Customization Options

Background colors are just one piece of visually customizing Google Docs. Here are a few other formatting options worth checking out:

Page borders: Add borders and lines around pages
Watermarks: Add light logos/text behind content

Margins: Increase margins between text and page edges
Columns: Organize text into newspaper-style columns
Text formatting: Bold, italicize, underline, font choice

Take advantage of these tools to further tailor Google Docs to your personal preferences and needs. Proper formatting makes documents not only better looking but also easier to read and navigate.

Switching It Up For Better Productivity

I encourage you to play around with switching up the background color and style across your Google documents. While white backgrounds are the default, taking a few minutes to customize your backdrops can pay dividends in better readability and reduced eye strain.

Not only that, but varying colors and formats helps stimulate creativity and boost productivity. The same old white screen day in and day out can encourage boredom and lack of focus. Mixing it up keeps things visually interesting and engaging.

So try out some of the different background color options next time you sit down to work in Google Docs. Having the ability to personalize your workspace can help you craft better quality documents and articles.