Shading words or paragraphs gives them a background color that updates when you switch to a different document theme. It's different from highlighting text, which has a very limited choice of colors, and doesn't update when you switch to another theme.
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Select the word or paragraph that you want to apply shading to.
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On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Shading.
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Under Theme Colors, click the color that you want to use to shade your selection.
: If you want to use a color that isn't a theme color, choose one under Standard Colors or click More Colors. If you switch to a different theme, only theme colors will update.
See also
For information about using shading in tables, see Add or remove shading in a table.
For information about using document theme colors, see Apply, customize, and save a document theme in Word or Excel.
