Altering highlight colour in Writer

[GrahamKnott]

I suspect this is going to be really embarrassing, but how do you change the highlight colour that highlights text in Writer? I've tried doing so via Tools/Options/Open Office.org/Appearance and then changing the colour in 'Reserved Expression' but with no effect whatsoever. At present the highlight colour is in black and it virtually blots out the relevant text. Regards, Gray

[JohnV]

Beside the highlight icon is a drop down menu where you select a new color.

[Hagar Delest]

I think you're talking about text selected with the cursor (a mere selection, not a highlighting in fact). I don't think it can be changed.

[Bill]

I think that the text selection highlight color is determined by the OS, but I don't know how to change it. In Windows Me, if I change the "Window" color setting, the background color of the page in Writer changes to that color and the highlight color also changes to a different color, but there isn't a separate setting for the highlight color that I can find.

[Hagar Delest]

Perhaps it's worth an enhancement request: [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions.

[GrahamKnott]

A clarification: when I refer to the 'highlighting' of text in Writer, I mean in the MS Word meaning of the term - that is, when you 'highlight' a piece of text with the idea of copying it, for example.

I reiterate: I can't figure out a way of changing the colour of the 'highlight' function (in MS Word' speak). I've no idea what it's called in Writer, which is part of the problem, I guess. At present it's a deep black and it all but blots out the text, making it very difficult to see properly. regards, Gray

[Dave]

A clarification: when I refer to the 'highlighting' of text in Writer, I mean in the MS Word meaning of the term - that is, when you 'highlight' a piece of text with the idea of copying it, for example.

You may be referring to selection of text. I don't see the problem, since the text becomes white on black, rather than black on white in the selection. If you want green on purple, I doubt that's possible. It is a programmer's choice, so you might make a request, but I doubt it will change soon if at all.

David.

[Hagar Delest]

Highlighting of text problems in Writer (continued)

Why create a new thread? I've merged the 2 in this single topic.

[Bill]

There is no manual setting for the selection highlight color. It is automatic and depends on the background color and the operating system appearance settings. Are you using a gray font color instead of black? That will cause selected text to be black on black highlighting. In that case, try turning on the option: Tools > Options > Openoffice.org > accessibility > Use automatic font color for screen display.

You may want to add comments and vote for this issue: calculation of high-contrast text selection colors not working

[Owyn]

You may want to add comments and vote for this issue: calculation of high-contrast text selection colors not working

I can't do that since there is no way to create an account there anymore it seems

I think that the text selection highlight color is determined by the OS

not really, my highlight setting in my high contrast windows theme is dark orange color and in the writer it is simply white for the background and blue for the text

[Hagar Delest]

I can't do that since there is no way to create an account there anymore it seems

Due to spam issues IIRC, the registration has been deactivated you have to ask the AOO mailing list.
But maybe try LibreOffice first. AOO development is almost dead. See: [Tutorial] Considering a Switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice? Some Useful Information.