Office Background are the patterns at top right of the title bar in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft Office apps.
Here’s the ‘Underwater’ and ‘Doodle circles’ backgrounds, just two of the 14 you can choose from.
Office Backgrounds are fairly pointless decoration. They were added to Office 2013 to almost universal apathy outside the Microsoft Hype Bubble™.
There is one minor benefit of the pattern if you’re switching between users within Office. Give each user a different Background and it’ll change as you change users. It’s an additional little visual clue about which user is signed-in, as if the name and avatar image aren’t enough. This works because some Office settings, like Theme and Background are saved in the Microsoft account and travel between computers.
We’re surprised they are still in Office 365 because the pattern is often hidden with the more crowded title bar in Microsoft 365.
With themes such as ‘Black’ or ‘Dark Gray’ make it hard to impossible to see the background.
Choosing an Office Background
Go to File | Account and Office Background is there just above Office theme.
The same choices are at File | Options | General.
List of Office Backgrounds
Here’s the list of different backgrounds:
- Calligraphy
- Circles and Stripes
- Circuit
- Clouds
- Doodle Circles
- Doodle Diamonds
- Geometry
- Lunchbox
- School Supplies
- Spring
- Stars
- Straws
- Tree Rings
- Underwater
Team up an Office Background with an ‘Office Theme’, choosing between Dark Gray, Black, White, System Setting or ‘Colorful’ themes.
Who and how to get the new look Office for Windows
Quick Access Toolbar nasty surprises in the new look Office
Microsoft’s waffle about the Office ‘new look’
Inside the new look and defaults in Office 365
Dark mode coming to Office for Android
