If you cannot remove highlights or shading from a Word document, you can first use the Clear All Formatting option. It will clear all the formatting done to the selected text including highlights.

The background highlights in blue, but the text remains unhighlighted. Press the "Delete" key on your keyboard to delete the template's background.

In Word 2003, check Highlight All Items Found In and click Find All. Using the Find In options, you can hone the search to specific sections, but Main Document is the only choice in the example.

Word gives you the ability to remove a background just as easily as you add one. Click the "Page Layout" tab at the top of Word. Options appear in the toolbar below.

You can use Find to highlight all the occurrences of a specific word or phrase as follows: Choose Find from the Edit menu or press [Ctrl]+F. In Word 2007, Find is in the Editing group on the Home tab.