XL: Gray Shading Prints as Black to HP DeskJet 660c

ID: Q157540

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

When you print to a Hewlett Packard DeskJet 660c printer, cells shaded with a gray fill color will print twice their expected intensity. A cell shaded 50% gray will print as a solid black color, 40% gray will print as 80% gray, 25% gray will print as 50% gray.

NOTE: This problem does not occur on a computer running Microsoft Windows NT.

WORKAROUND

This behavior can be corrected by performing either of the following:

Shade another cell with a fill color other than gray.
```
    - or -
```
Draw an object on the worksheet and format that object with a fill color other than gray.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

This is a result of the dithering algorithms used by the printer driver in Microsoft Windows 95. This problem does not exist in Microsoft Windows NT.

For additional information about problems printing to the Hewlett Packard 660c, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q157066
   TITLE     : XL: Patterned Cells Printed Lighter with Object in Worksheet

REFERENCES

For more information about shading cells, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

   shading in cells

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Shade cells with solid colors" topic.

Additional query words: XL97 XL7 7.00 8.00 dithering optimization icm grey greyed

Keywords          : kbprint xlprint 
Version           : WINDOWS:7.0,97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: January 7, 1999