About transparent areas

When printed, transparent areas in pictures are the same color as the paper on which they're printed. In an electronic display— such as a Web page— transparent areas are the same color as the background. Metafiles, such as those with shapes, usually have transparent areas.

Although you cannot change the transparency of an animated GIF picture by using the Picture toolbar, you can make these changes in an animated GIF editing program, and then insert the file.