I posted this to both the Excel.misc and powerpoint newsgroups, and no-one
confirmed this as a know issue- this is my last try before figuring out how
to report a bug to MS (see my last comment below)....

I have a _very_ simple chart in Excel XP. I copy/paste it to Powerpoint XP.
Everything looks great onscreen and in print preview. I send it to any color
printer (xerox, XP) using the latest drivers, on high-end business printers,
and the category X-axis labels print as black bars instead of the text. I
messed with the PS settings (softfonts, maximize portability, process
locally, etc) but the issue still exists. I searched the MS knowledge base,
and found nothing.

The one thing I did identify as a difference between stuff that prints and
stuff that doesnt is the stuff that doesn't is just under 8pt font (7, 7.5).
I'm using arial but also tested times new roman.

Printing using PCL drivers, the text shows up but much of the rest of the
graph doesn't, so thats not an option.

The only (poor) workaround I've found is to use "copy as picture" in Excel,
but that is not a standard menu option, and this is starting to be an issue
for multiple users in our organization (we were just upgraded to XP). I
can't think of any reason why I shouldn't be able to create a simple graph,
copy to PPt, and print it wysiwyg (and yeah, I remember the days before
wysiwyg, but I'm spoiled now and expect more :)

Has anyone had this issue?

Alternatively, anyone know how I can report it as a potential bug via email
_without_ going through the problem reporting tool on MS's website? Our
network security guy would flip his lid if I agreed to the MS EULA that gave
/anyone/, even MS, "permission" to access our machines remotely, as we do
have sensitive data (not sure they even could access the PC with all our
firewalls). I'd be more than happy to email them a test file demonstrating
the problem.

I appreciate any help,
Keith