Equations are displayed as empty or shaded boxes in Microsoft Word

TechNote 143

Applicability

Issue

Many users become concerned when their equations are replaced with empty boxes or appear in grey-shaded boxes. Double-clicking these boxes will launch MathType 7 and display the equation, and the equations will print correctly, but the equations are not displayed properly in Microsoft Word.

Reason

The 'empty boxes' behaviour is a feature in Microsoft Word called "Picture (or Image) Placeholders" designed to conserve RAM. The Picture Placeholders option helps minimize the number of computer resources required to display a page and helps Word scroll multiple pages faster on-screen.  So long as your computer does not have insufficient RAM, you can toggle this setting so the equations in your document are displayed on-screen.

The 'grey-shading' behaviour is a setting called "Field Shading" designed to make finding equations and other OLE objects easier when they can be difficult to see among surrounding content.

Solution

As these are features of Word, it is advisable to refer to Word's Help files to learn more about them and how they are activated.

If none of the equations or other graphics in your document display (Windows only)

If you find that all of the graphics in your document are not being displayed, Picture (or Image) Placeholders is probably enabled. To turn this option off, do the following:

1. Launch Word.
2. Select
   • Office button | Word Options | Advanced |Show document content (Word 2007)
   • File tab | Options | Advanced | Show document content (Word 2010 and later)
3. Uncheck the box for Image Placeholders or Picture Placeholders.
4. Press OK.

If this was the cause, unchecking this option will cause all the objects in the document to be displayed again.

If some or all of the equations or other graphics in your document display in a grey-shaded box

Suppose you find that some or all of the graphics in your document display in grey (or striped) boxes, Field Shading is probably enabled. To turn this option off, do the following:

If this was the cause, setting this option to Never will cause all the objects in the document to be displayed correctly again.

We hope this has been helpful. As always, please let us know if you have questions about this or if you have additional techniques that work. We'd love to hear from you.