Reading view is one of the lesser-known features of Microsoft Edge in Windows 10. While viewing a webpage, you can toggle on or off the Reading view by clicking the book icon on the address bar or pressing Ctrl + Shift + R keys.
Reading view provides a book-like reading experience of webpages. The best part is that advertisements and secondary content don’t appear when you are viewing a webpage in Reading view.
Edge’s Reading view, by default, uses black color for the text and sepia for the webpage background irrespective of the original text and background color of the webpage. This color combination makes reading webpages easier as you don’t have to stare at the white background color which most webpages use by default.
Then there is a read-aloud functionality present in Reading view which reads aloud the content for you.
With default settings, the Reading view uses black texts on a sepia background. While the sepia color is not as harsh as white on your eyes, you might want to have a dark gray or black color as the Reading view background, especially when you are reading a webpage in low light conditions.
Up until now, it was not possible to change the default background color of the Reading view. However, starting with Windows 10 Redstone 5 (version 1809), the Reading view offers over 20 themes to choose from. This means that you can now change the default background color of the Reading view with ease.
Change Reading view background color in Edge in Windows 10
Here is how to change the Reading view background color in Edge in Windows 10.
Step 1: Open the Edge browser and open a webpage that you want to read in Reading mode.
Step 2: Click on the book icon in the address bar or use Ctrl + Shift + R keys to turn on the Reading view. Note that you will see the grayed-out book icon if the webpage doesn’t support the Reading view.
Step 3: You can now see the webpage in Reading view. To change the background color, click the grammar tools icon (see picture below) in the toolbar. If you cannot see the toolbar, click anywhere on the page.
Step 4: Under Text options tab, click on one of the themes to change the background color immediately.
Edge will remember the new background color and will use the same when you open webpages in Reading view in future.
To exit the Reading view, click on the book icon in the taskbar again or press Ctrl + Shift + R keys.
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