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Font Changing Slightly in Tables / Selected Text Highlight Color Different

This is really just a minor annoyance than an actual problem, but I can't figure this out and it has been bothering me.

When working with large tables, I have noticed that the font changes slightly inside some cells.  It almost appears if the rasterization / anti-aliasing is changing.  One line looks clear and the next is slightly off.  It's very slightly bolder and more jagged.  It only affects select cells.

When I select the text, the normal text is highlighted with the normal light blue, but the unusual text is highlighted in a slightly darker color blue.  The amount of text with this problem changes if I scroll away or change windows and then come back, but always remains in the cell. 

I was thinking that it was possibly a problem with ClearType in Windows 7.  But when I turned it off, all of the text looked identical, but the differences in selected text remained.

 It appears with multiple fonts and font sizes.

I've uploaded a couple of sample screenshots of what I'm seeing here.  The screenshot on the left is without the text selected and the one on the right is with.

Thanks.  Any help would be appreciated.


Is service pack 1 for Office 2010 installed on the system? To check:
Open any Word, click on File< Help< on the right hand side of the window under ‘About Microsoft Word’ check if service pack 1 for Office 2010 is installed. If not download and install the service pack 1 from the link given below:
 
Change the default printer and check if it works fine:
If Word works fine after changing the default printer then contact the printer manufacturer to update the printer drivers.
 
Also open Word in safe mode and check:
Click on Start< All Programs< Accessories< Run< Type ‘winword /safe’ (without quotes) and click on Ok.
Note: There should be a space between 'winword' and '/'.
 
If you are able to work with Word without any problem then the issue might be due to add-ins. In order to disable the add-ins follow the steps given below:
Click on File< Options< Add-ins< Click on ‘GO’ beside Manage – COM Add-ins and uncheck the add-ins and click Ok.
Then try to open Word and check if it works fine.

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Thanks for the help. 

I do have Service Pack 1 installed.  My version of Word is "Microsoft Word 2010 (14.0.6024.1000) SP1 MSO (14.0.6112.5000) Part of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010."

The document prints fine.  It is only when being viewed on the screen.  But I did try changing the default printer and the problem remained.

I opened the file in safe mode and it still was showing the issue.

I also checked the add-ins and they were already all disabled.

While trying these different fixes, I found that the problem appears to occur only in merged cells.  When I merge two or more cells in a column, so that the merged cell spans multiple rows, the problem appears.  The cutoff for between normal and unusual font happens right around where the second row would have been had the cell not been merged. 

Thanks again.

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Are you able to reproduce the issue on any other system?
 
Also upload a sample file on SkyDrive to help us understand the issue and assist you further on this issue:

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I've uploaded a sample document and three screenshots to SkyDrive here.

I tried this file on two computers and on both the issue appeared.

In the sample document, the text that is slightly different is in what is labeled columns 2 and 3 associated with the first item. When working on the sample document, I realized that file size does not matter, but the fact that the file has comments and the merging of cells.  The linked to  file is landscape, but it also appeared with a portrait orientation.

There are two screenshots with the text unselected and one with.  The only difference between the two screenshots with unselected text is that the first only has half of the text in the two cells slightly off and the second has all of it different.  The screenshot with selected text shows the differences in selection highlighting color.

As you can see, it's really just a minor annoyance, but I do appreciate the help.  Thanks.

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Backup normal.dotm file, delete the file from the location and create a new table and check if it works fine:

To Backup and delete the normal.dotm file:

  • Close all the Office applications.
  • Browse to the location given below:

C:\Users\

  • Take a backup of normal.dotm file and delete the file from the location.
  • Open Word and create the table again and check if it works fine.

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This is happening to me in some, not all, docxs made from a dotx file and it's not in merged cells. If I create a table and copy text to it, the top lines of text in the last or second to last row are affected. If I create new rows above and put my text in them, either typed copied or dragged, it looks ok, but as soon as I delete the affected bottom row, the highlight moves to the current lowest row. If my table breaks across pages, the lowest row on each page is affected. It happens if I make a new table in this docx and in old tables.  ?

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This could be a problem with the display driver on the affected computer. Have you tried updating it?
Stefan Blom
MS 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
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Note that I do not work for Microsoft
https://mvp.microsoft.com/
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Please specify Word version & OS in your question

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There may be different causes for different people, but I had the same issue and traced it back to having a watermark in the document. I removed the watermark and things went back to normal. (Incidentally, en route to that solution, I found that setting "Shading" to "White" instead of "No colour" achieved the same result.)

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This is the real solution.

However, the cause is still not concluded. But in my case it may be due to followings:

1. Merged cells in excel copied to word.

2. Page break between a table.

3. Text copied from other sources.

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Last updated October 7, 2021 Views 3,368 Applies to: