PPT97: Unexpected Font Substitution by Some Printer Drivers

ID: Q190386

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

If you print a PowerPoint 97 for Windows presentation to a Hewlett-Packard (HP) DeskJet, Hewlett-Packard DeskJet Plus, Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 500, Okidata OL-830, or an Okidata OL-400, the text may be printed in a Symbol or Dingbats font. These fonts do not include the regular alphabet, so your output may appear as gibberish, or the chosen font (such as Times New Roman) may appear unusual, improperly spaced, or corrupted.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Make sure the presentation's orientation and the orientation of the 

   printer driver are the same:

    a. On the Windows Start menu, point to Settings, and then click
       Printers.

    b. Right-click the DeskJet printer icon, and then click Properties on
       the menu that appears.

    c. Click the Paper tab. Change the orientation to Landscape.

    d. Click OK.
2. To reinitialize the HP DeskJet driver, switch your presentation to a 
   different printer driver and then switch it back again. To do this,
   follow these steps:

    a. On the File menu, click Print.

    b. Choose a printer other than a DeskJet from the list of installed
       printers.

    c. To register this change, you must click OK, but you may then
       cancel the print job by double-clicking the printer icon on the
       status bar at the bottom of the screen.

       NOTE: You may need to exit and restart PowerPoint for your
       printer change to take effect.

    d. On the File menu, click Print.

    e. Select DeskJet from the list of installed printers.

    f. Make whatever other print choices you want to use and click OK.

MORE INFORMATION

These steps also work if you encounter the same problem with other printers. Here is a list of other printers that may exhibit this problem: 

   DEC Colorwriter 520 IC
   Epson FX80
   Epson LQ 850
   Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIp
   Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 1600c
   Lexmark ExecJet 4076c
   Okidata OL-400e
   Panasonic KXP-2450
   Panasonic KXP 2123
   Star NX 2400 24-pin printer
   Xerox 250 Workcenter printer
For the Star NX 2400, the slide orientation in the slide setup and printer driver have to match to print properly.

This problem has also occurred with the following configuration: 

    PowerPoint 97 for Windows
    Windows NT 3.51 workstation
    DeskJet 550c driver, version 3.11 (printing to 660c)
    Version 3.51 of Unidrv.dll
    Version 4.00.950 of Unidrv.dll
Additional query words: 8.00 w_powerpt powerpnt wingdings dingbats garbled messed up unreadable foreign garbage characters 
Keywords          : kbprint kbFont 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : x86
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: November 21, 1998