There are two ways to apply "highlighting" to text. The built-in way is with
the Highlight tool, but its color range is rather limited, so many users use
shading instead. This is applied from the Format | Borders and Shading
dialog. There is also a button for it on the Tables and Borders toolbar.
Confusingly, the Border Color and Shading Color buttons on this toolbar use
the same artist's brush and paint can icons that are used on the Line Color
and Fill Color buttons on the Drawing toolbar.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"stevej" wrote in message
news
Hi Bob
Thanks for your quick response.

I don't think so, Im just trying to highlight some text on a word doc by
highlighting text with cursor then attempting to get fill colour. The
options
for colour including automatic are grayed out completly as they are for
painting etc...

Silly question but how would I know if I had an autoshape or graphic
setting
chosen??
Thanks much appreciated
Steve

"Bob Buckland ?:-)" wrote:

Hi Steve,

Do you have an autoshape or other graphic selected in Word 2003 when you
use the Fill choice from the drawing toolbar?

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"stevej" wrote in message
...
fill colour options grayed out? XP Home 2003 version
--
Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*