How to change Pasteboard color to grey in InDesign?

In InDesign Preferences > User Interface you have the possiblity to change the desktop appearance between bright and dark.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for reaching out. As Steve mentioned, looks like you have selected Dark Theme. Try changing the Color theme from Preferences and let us know if that helps.

For more details, please take a look at this help article: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/using/workspace-basics.html#SetUXcolor

Regards,

Srishti

Hi Bob:

I'm getting a black pasteboard on some documents when viewing in "normal" mode.

To the best of my knowledge, you can't designate the pasteboard as black in Normal mode. (You can for Preview mode, as per Rob, or as dark gray, as per Steve.) Also, deselecting Match Pasteboard to Theme Color always returns the pasteboard to the original white.

If some documents are showing a black pasteboard and deselecting Match Pasteboard to Theme Color doesn't return the pasteboard to the white then something else is going on. Does it happen with new documents, or just certain files that have been around for a while?

~Barb

You can also get a dark background if you have chosen Match to Theme Color when you have the Interface Theme color set to Dark or Medium Dark. This is set as a checkbox in the preference that Rob mentions. Also, you can choose it with View > Match Pasteboard to Theme Color. Or, it can be set in the Interface Preference,

The preview background color is a document level preference—Preferences>Guides&Pasteboard>Preview Background dropdown menu. You can set it as the application preference for new documents by closing all docs and picking the gray you want.

It’s not a new feature, works the same in CS6.