Text boxes got an unwanted background color

[Eadig]

Hello

I don't know how I ended up getting this, but every text box in my InDesign project got a blue background color:

I couldn't remove it after checking through the View and Window menu options — nothing seems to have changed.

It would be appreciated If someone could tell me how the box can be removed.

Thank you in advance.

[Eadig]

To add to it, switching to other view modes hides the blue background, so it's only the Normal mode that shows it.

[Bill Silbert]

With no document window open go to the Paragraph Panel pull-down menu and choose "Paragraph Borders and Shading" and in the dialog window that comes up make sure that "Shading" is unchecked. Then quit the program and when the program is relaunched  no shading should now become the default. Documents that have already been created and saved with the shading will retain the shading but can be fixed on an individual basis using this dialog. Simply select the paragraphs affected and follow the process I've described.

[aWebWizard]

it's unchecked and still doing it.

[jmlevy]

You should:

1.  create a new thread
2.  post some screenshots illustrating your problem

[jane-e]

---

@aWebWizard wrote:

it's unchecked and still doing it.

---

Did you read through this entire thread? It lists several possibilities that could be causing your issue.

Jane

[drtamarap]

 your solution did not work for me either

[jane-e]

Hi,

If Bill's thought doesn't work, another possibility is this:

If you used overrides on your styles and clicked the show overrides button in the Paragraph or Character Styles panels, InDesign will highlight all text with overrides. Click the button to hide the overrides.

Or, better, use styles with no overrides.

~ Jane

[bonitaabril]

Thank you.

I'm Korean user.

[willwenzel]

I've noticed that the blue background happens for both paragraph style exceptions and for character style exceptions.  In Design likes to apply pre-determined styles.

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

"In Design likes to apply pre-determined styles."

A best practice is that you create and use styles for all text. If you choose not to, turn off the "Show Overrides" button that I marked earlier. It looks like this:    [+]

~ Jane

[PIETRO5FC0]

Jane, you save my day! I was getting crazy BEFORE your suggestion here. You were right. To all: please note that when you start from a template taken from the internet the override might be already activated, producing the blue color behind.

[Cristiano Hossongo]

Thanks, finally I removed it!

[jane-e]

You're welcome @Cristiano Hossongo and I'm glad this worked for you 😊

Jane

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi Cristiano Hossongo,

Glad to hear that Jane's suggestion helped. To set any preference for your document you can launch InDesign, and without opening any document, you can setup the document presets.

Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance. 

Thanks

Rishabh

[JenniferAtWork]

thank you, 5 years later! using a template, and having style issues, and blue background around type -- AND THIS SOLVED THE ISSUES!!!!! checking the  Plus button on top in the paragraph styles panel . thank you thank you

[jane-e]

thank you, 5 years later

By @JenniferAtWork 

You're welcome Jennifer, I'm glad this is working for you. In addition, the plus sign is also in Character styles.

[livtaylor]

Jane's replay fixes the issue for sure. Thank you Jane. 

[Eadig]

Thank you two for the suggestions.

After working in the same copy of InDesign for about half an hour, the background color automatically disappeared for some reason.

I then went onto checking the Shading and Paragraph Styles settings and found out that the Shading was turned off and the Paragraph Styles panel just had a setting named Paragraph Style 1+.  Just in case I checked the Paragraph Shading for Paragraph Style 1+ and confirmed it was turned off.

I will make sure to try out the suggestions if I come across the same symptom again.

[jane-e]

Hi,

There is a third possibility. If you set and use a condition in Conditional Text, the formatting could be set to Highlight in Blue.

Jane

[rob day]

Eadig  wrote

Hello

I don't know how I ended up getting this, but every text box in my InDesign project got a blue background color:

Is your screen capture showing the actual color you were seeing or are you simulating it?

Because there's also Composition violations, which are set in Preferences, and they would be hidden in Preview mode. The custom tracking violation is more green than blue.

[Eadig]

Yes, the background color was as blue as in the screenshot.

I checked the composition screen of Preferences and confirmed only Substituted Fonts was checked:

I think it's not to do with fonts though because I didn't change the font for every text frame.

[Heather2217727398rk]

Could be Underline options

[Nilesh24563760epeb]

Check Under - Paragraph Rules (Alt + Ctrl + J)

I spent ages on this... I copied all information (not just text) from customers word file and had a white box!

Finally checked the paragraph rules both 'Rule Above' + 'Rule Below' - were on - so turned them off. All is good now

[windycitycretive_2024]

Hello - I am now having the exact same problem, which I copied all information (not just text) from a word file and had a white box.  I can't get rid of it.  I checked paragraph rules as you mentioned.  I have a couple of character styles applied but paragraph style... what I am missing? I am using InDesign with Mac OS Monterey.