john andrew wrote:
when changing from normal view to yellow background, line numbers at
bottom of screen don't appear and text margins too wide.

how can line numbers appear at bottom of screnf and can stay the same?

Since you've given us very little to go on, I'm going to take a flying guess
that you're using Word 2002 or earlier, and that you're selecting Format
Background and choosing the yellow color. Until Word 2003, background colors
can't be printed and are *only* for documents saved as Web pages. For that
reason, when you apply a background, Word automatically switches into Web
view -- and Web view doesn't use line numbers or margins.

If you really need a yellow background, insert a textbox with yellow fill
and no border line, and send it behind the text. Or upgrade to Word 2003...

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org