Microsoft KB Archive/73287

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Text Will Not Be Dithered in Excel for Windows

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0

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SUMMARY
If you are using a Windows video driver that dithers some display colors (such as a 16-color VGA video driver), you will notice that when you choose a dithered color for text in Microsoft Excel for Windows, the text will be displayed in an undithered or pure color.

For example, if you format text to a dithered shade of blue with RBG (red, green, blue) values of R=255, G=64, and B=0, the text will display in pure red. However, if the worksheet or chart is opened in Microsoft Excel while running under Windows with another video driver that can render that shade of red as a pure, undithered color, it will appear correctly. An example is if you open the same file on a computer where Windows is using a video driver capable of displaying 256 or more colors.

MORE INFORMATION
This is a Windows limitation. The same situation will occur if you choose to format text using dithered colors in PowerPoint for Windows.

To get pure colors with a 16-color Windows-compatible video driver, select the appropriate RGB (red, green, blue) values for the colors so that they are not dithered. RGB values that give pure colors must be combinations of 0 and 128 or combinations of 0 and 255, as entered into the More Colors dialog in PowerPoint for Windows (not including light gray).

PURE COLOR TABLE FOR 16-COLOR VIDEO DRIVERS
  Color Name       Red Value    Green Value    Blue Value --      -    ---    --

Black             0             0              0 White            255           255            255 Red              255            0              0 Green             0            255             0 Blue              0             0             255 Cyan              0            255            255 Magenta          255            0             255 Yellow           255           255             0 Light gray       192           192            192 Gray             128           128            128 Dark red         128            0              0 Dark green        0            128            128 Dark blue         0             0             128 Teal              0            128            128 Purple           128            0             128 Tan              128           128             0

Other colors may appear to be pure colors; however, when you format text for those colors, the text will be displayed in one of the 16 colors listed above if the video driver does not support more than 16 pure colors.

Additional query words: 3.0 4.0

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