Excel printing vs Word

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ryanaop - 13 Apr 2006 21:08 GMT

This question has been posted twice but in different wording, unfortunately
an answer has yet been reached.

With Excel and Word 2003 (w/XP professional) Using a black and white laser
printer, Word will print black text shades of gray and white text. But Excel
only prints Black or white. Is this simply a limited factor of Excel or is
there a way to print text in gray shades? As the text variation prints
correctly with Word docs this should verify that printing options/selections
are correctly set. Any comments welcomed. Thanks,

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Phil C - 19 Apr 2006 08:48 GMT

I didn't realise this, but the answer seems to be that it simply doesn't
work!
Why does Excel offer the option to set text to '50% grey', or whatever, if
you can't print it?
Only workarounds seem to be to export the page to Word, or to find a colour
printer.
Excel seem to to handle greyscale printing for all other objects, but not
text.

Sorry not to be of more help

Phil

> This question has been posted twice but in different wording, unfortunately
> an answer has yet been reached.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> correctly with Word docs this should verify that printing options/selections
> are correctly set. Any comments welcomed. Thanks,

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David McRitchie - 19 Apr 2006 12:46 GMT

Hi Phil,
File, Print setup, Sheet, turn off Print B&W.
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

> I didn't realise this, but the answer seems to be that it simply doesn't
> work!
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> options/selections
> > are correctly set. Any comments welcomed. Thanks,

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Phil C - 20 Apr 2006 15:39 GMT

Hi David

Page setup / Sheet/ Print ..Black and white IS off. That was the first thing
I checked.
And I have found previous posts from users saying that this didn't make any
difference.
Print preview doesn't work properly either...All text appears black,
including that set as "gray-50%", "gray 25%" etc (Excel 2000 standard colour
palette). The only place it looks OK is within the spreadsheet itself
(normal view)

Phil

> Hi Phil,
> File, Print setup, Sheet, turn off Print B&W.
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
> > options/selections
> > > are correctly set. Any comments welcomed. Thanks,

Reply to this Message

David McRitchie - 20 Apr 2006 16:49 GMT

Hi Phil,
Print B&W is a per sheet option.

Also check your print driver settings:
File, Page Setup, page, options
or when you print, you get a chance to change printer settings,
if done with File, Print.

Check your printer settings for something like
print with black ink only,
print in draft mode.

File, Page Setup, page, options

I only use black ink in my printer, but I see colors in preview even if the
print with black ink only is checked, which is exactly what I would want anyway.
-- these are options in your print driver
and are not Excel related. Different drivers have different interfaces.

The above is strictly about text, are you talking about graphics, or charts
instead of text and backgrounds.

Are you just asking in general, or did anything change on you abruptly , and if so more
details.

---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

> Hi David
>
[quoted text clipped - 52 lines]
> > > options/selections
> > > > are correctly set. Any comments welcomed. Thanks,

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Phil C - 21 Apr 2006 13:13 GMT

David

Like the oringinal poster of this thread, I find it hard to understand why
similar document (lines of text of different colours/grey scales) set up in
Word and Excel would behave differently in this respect. I would have
thought that (central) printer driver settings would have affected all
applications?

I have checked the printer driver optrions anyway and can't find anything
untoward.

With the same printer selected (a Brother mono laser, MFC 9160) the Word
document looks as you would expect in print preview mode (black text as
black, grey text as grey [and red text as red]). In Excel, all the text (of
whatever colour/shade of grey) appears black, and this is indeed what pops
out of the printer. Cell colour fills appear OK, it is just text that is the
problem.

However, with the same Excel test file open (same line of text in different
colours), something interesting happened when when I selected different mono
laser printers (I have several drivers installed). Selecting the "Samsung
6050 PCL 5e" had no effect (same problem as above), but selecting the
"Samsung ML-6060 series PCL 6" cured the problem. Print preview then looked
as it should (all colours/scales properly displayed, as with your printer).
Note that this is a mono laser printer. I haven't actually printed to this
printer (not currently connected), but I'm pretty sure it would work (grey
text print as grey).

In summary, there is obviously a mono laser printer driver feature (as yet
unidentified, but could be to do with half-toning) that supports proper text
printing from Excel. And some apparently don't have it. But all mono laser
printers seem to support proper text printing from Word.

Hey ho..

Phil

> Hi Phil,
> Print B&W is a per sheet option.
[quoted text clipped - 83 lines]
> > > > options/selections
> > > > > are correctly set. Any comments welcomed. Thanks,

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