ping!
It sounds like it might be shaded. That option is under Format, Borders and Shading.
If it’s not the shaded background, check “Format Character” and look at the colors. In OpenOffice, it’s on the “Background” tab. I think on Word, it’s on a the first tab you get in “Format Character.” It’s in there somewhere. It’s been a while since I used M$ Word, sorry.
How to get rid of black background in Microsoft Word.
Situation: You went to a website, you highlighted all the text on a page on that website, you copied and pasted the words to a Microsoft Word document, and now you have the words but the background is black. You want to get rid of the black background behind the words and make the background white like you’d normally see in a Word document.
1. Click ‘Home’.
2. Click ‘Select all’ (is is on the far right). Everything should now be highlighted.
3. Under the ‘Home’ tab, look for a big letter ‘A’, then a little letter ‘A’, then an icon button that has a big and little letter ‘A’ (Aa) and a white thingy that looks like an eraser from elementary school. Click that (’Clear Formatting’) and it should get rid of the black background.