Gray Shading Prints as Black to HP DeskJet 660c (157540)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 95
  • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
This article was previously published under Q157540

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:

157066 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.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/17/2005
Keywords:kbprb kbprint KB157540
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.