Display font color on screen with Word 2013

Hello Glenn,

In order to fix this issue please follow the steps about the High Contrast issue as suggested by Community Moderator Suzanne S. Barnhill from the following Microsoft Communities Link:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-word/text-font-color-in-microsoft-word/88ee0bea-3893-4536-af5b-0655c1a00645?page=1

In case those steps do not work then follow Doug Robbins’ steps to disable Hardware Acceleration in Word 2013.

Try the above steps and let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Thank you for your response.  I tried both recommended solutiong and neither worked.  I can print the color font but it does not display on the screen..  

I recently noticed that in PowerPoint there is an option to display the font colors on the screen.  Word does not have that option.  Is that option somewhere in the program?

Another thought I am having is it possible that since I am using a laptop with the 64 bit OS that the laptop screen cannot display the word font colors.  It does a fine job of displaying font colors in all of my other programs and the screen icons, so the actual problem must be somewhere in the word program.

Perhaps the Microsoft Word development team might come up with a update fix for the program?

Hello Glenn,

In order to help us understand the issue better, I request you to post a screenshot of the issue as it happens in Word 2013. You may also post another screenshot from PowerPoint or other Office applications, as comparison for the issue in Word 2013.

To add screen shot, click on Add image > Browse and select the screen shot > and then click on Upload.

Please send us the above information for us to be able to help you better.

Thank you.

These are the screen shots from a new word and PowerPoint documents.  The word document printed in color but would only display in black.  The PowerPoint both displayed and printed in color.

I tried uploading both the word and PowerPoint documents screen shots, but the message was that they were considered "invalid file types."  So I have pasted the copies from the screen instead (ctrl c then ctrl v).

First the PowerPoint screen font copy.  Screen shows color and it pastes in color.

This is supposed to be blue
This is supposed to be red
This is supposed to be green

Now the Word screen font copy., which interestingly pastes in color but will not display in color on my computer screen.

This is supposed to be blue

This is supposed to be red

This is supposed to be green

The problem is my computer I guess.  I tried both the recommended solutions, including disabling the hardware acceleration.  I even tried opening a new word document to see if it would past in color but it only pasted in black.  When I tried pasting the word document copy into the PowerPoint presentation, the colors pasted when I pasted and kept source formatting.

Any other suggestions you have? 

Is it possible that a laptop screen may not display the color in Word documents.

I got an email saying I haven't said whether or not my issue of not being able to see the font colors on screen has been resolved.

The answer is still no.  I sent samples from both word and PowerPoint and noted the color fonts from word paste in the correct colors in the response I send, but do not show up on my word document screen.

I haven't heard back anything after sending that last response.

Hello Glenn,

Since none of the suggested steps worked, let us check if the Font Colors are visible in the Word Safe Mode.

Let’s follow these steps to open Word 2013 in the Safe Mode:

Hold the Windows key down and press R, In the Run box that opens type winword /safe (note there is a space between winword and /) and click on Ok. If you are not able to open the Run box then follow this step. Click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Run and type in the command winword /safe and click on Ok.

This action will open Word 2013 in the Safe Mode. Check if it works normally and you are able to view the font colors in Word 2013 or if the same issue arises again.

If the application works fine in safe mode, disable the Add-Ins for the application and check the result.

• Click the File tab.
• Go to Options.
• Click Add-ins.
• Select Com Add-Ins from the drop down window at the bottom of the box
• Try disabling the Add-ins – clear all the options and click on OK to save the changes made. Note: In case you see some Add-ins getting checked again after applying OK it is still fine. Ignore and proceed further 

After completing Com Add-Ins follow the same steps as above and check under Word Add-Ins to see if there are any Add-in there which needs to be disabled. If yes, proceed with the same steps as mentioned above.

Check if the above step helps you to resolve the issue.

Note In case if it works briefly and the issue returns after a while then make sure to navigate back to Com Add-Ins and Word Add-Ins (following the steps as detailed above) and remove / un-install the Add-ins from the list.

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, the font colors did not show up on the screen  in safe mode, but they did print in the selected colors:  as shown below below in a copy paste directly from the safe mode word document

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

But even though the colored font still did not show up I opened up word in normal mode, went to the com add-ins and deleted the one note connection.  The colors did not show but below is the copy/paste from after the deletion:

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party

Perhaps you have another suggestion.

Hello Glenn,

Has Word 2013 ever displayed the font color since installation on your computer?

If yes, then let us try the following steps in Word 2013.

Navigate to File > Options > Advanced > Display section. Make sure that the option Disable hardware graphics acceleration is unchecked. If not, please uncheck this option and save the changes.

Close and reopen Word 2013. Check if you are now able to view the Font Colors in Word 2013.

If the above does not work then we will have to check if the Printer is causing the issue, as the Printers can also sometimes cause such issue. 

1. From your main Windows 8.1 Start Screen search for Control Panel and from Control Panel navigate to Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers or just Printers.
2. Check which printer option is set as default.
3. Right-click on One Note printer or Microsoft XPS Document Writer and set it as your default printer.
4. Now check if Word 2013 is able to display font colors.
5. If not, then you may put back the Printer Default to your own printer.
6. If the issue resolves, then make sure to download a new Printer Driver for your default printer (from the printer manufacturer’s website) and install a new driver.  

In case this does not work, please let us know if this issue is affect one or a few Word documents, or does it affect all Word documents – including new Word document.

Hope the above works. Let us know the result.

Thank you.

Thank you for another suggestion.  It did not change the screen font colors they are black.

I disabled Hardware Acceleration (actually that was one of the earlier suggestions) and now XPS is my default printer.  But I pasted the line below and you can see the colors appear in the pasted version.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

I do not recall if the font colors ever appeared since I first installed word.  I could not copy and paste the version from the About Word screen, but it is version 15.0.4631.1000 MSO 15.0.4631.1002 32 bit.  My computer is 64 bit, is that perhaps the problem, or is there a 64 bit version? Should I try to find the original instal disk to reinstall word?

Thanks for all of your attempts to assist so far, I really appreciate your efforts.