ACC2000: Microsoft Access Report Is Not Visible in Word or Excel (208536)

Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.

This article applies to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb) and to a Microsoft Access project (.adp).

SYMPTOMS

When you set the window color to black and the font color to white in Control Panel instead of accepting the default white window color and black font color, and then you output a Microsoft Access report to Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, the report is not visible. A black window is all that you see.

CAUSE

Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel have a default setting of black for font color. However, Word and Excel do not have a setting for window color; therefore, the window remains the color it was set in Control Panel.

RESOLUTION

There are several workarounds for this behavior. One is to change the Control Panel settings so that the window color is something other than black. A second is to highlight all of the text in Microsoft Word (CTRL+A) or all of the cells in Microsoft Excel (CTRL+A) and change the font color.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
In Control Panel, double-click Display, and in the Display Properties box, click the Appearance tab.
On the Appearance tab, in the Active Window box, click the white space. Under Item: Window, set Color to black and under Font, set Color to white, and then click OK.
Start Microsoft Access and open the sample data base Northwind.mdb.
Click the Reports tab and preview the Alphabetical List Of Products report.
Click the OfficeLinks button's arrow, and then click Publish It with Microsoft Word or Analyze It with Microsoft Excel.

Note that Word or Excel opens with a black window.