WD: Gray Drawing Layer Lines Printed in Black on HP LaserJet (187895)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0
- Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0a
- Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0c
- Microsoft Word for Windows 95
- Microsoft Word for Windows 95 7.0a
This article was previously published under Q187895 SYMPTOMS
When you create a gray-colored line for a drawing object (using the tools
on the Drawing toolbar), the line may be printed in black on Hewlett-
Packard (HP) LaserJet series printers.
In Word 6.x, this behavior occurs with lines, circles, squares, arcs, and
freeform shapes; and with ellipses when you use a Windows 95 printer
driver.
CAUSE
Word sends correct gray color instructions to the printer driver, which
means Word is not responsible for this behavior. Some versions of the HP
LaserJet Series printer drivers translate gray color formatting to black
printer instructions for all shapes except the ellipse (except when using
the Windows 95 printer driver).
Specifically, when a non-ellipse is formatted as gray, the printer driver
sends a NULL brush and solid pen (pen width = 0) instruction, which tells
the printer to print in black instead of gray. In contrast, for a gray-
colored ellipse, the printer driver sends a brush instruction that
corresponds to the Windows Universal Printer Driver (Unidrv.dll)
instruction for dithered solid red color, which the HP LaserJet printer
prints as gray.
This problem may occur with the following printers:
HP LaserJet
HP LaserJet II
HP LaserJet IIp+
HP LaserJet III
HP LaserJet IIIp
HP LaserJet IIIsi
HP LaserJet 4M/4P (HPPCL5E.DRV version 1.27)
HP LaserJet 4si (HPPCL5E.DRV version 1.27)
HP LaserJet 4si MX (HPPCL5E.DRV version 1.27)
HP LaserJet 4si version 3.78 (Windows 95 printer driver)
WORKAROUND
To work around this problem use any of the following methods:
Method 1: Create an Object That Uses a Gray Fill
Depending on the type of drawing object needed, it may be possible to
create the object that uses a gray fill, but to which you do not add a
line color. Gray-colored object fills print correctly. For example, to
create a gray-colored line, create instead a narrow rectangle that has
no lines and uses a gray fill.
Method 2: Use a PostScript Printer Driver
If your printer supports PostScript, use a PostScript printer driver.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products
listed at the beginning of this article.
MORE INFORMATION
The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors
independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise,
regarding these products' performance or reliability.
| Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 8/17/2005 |
|---|
| Keywords: | kb3rdparty kbprb kbprint KB187895 |
|---|
|