Microsoft KB Archive/187895

= WD: Gray Drawing Layer Lines Printed in Black on HP LaserJet =

Article ID: 187895

Article Last Modified on 8/17/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Word 6.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 6.0a
 * Microsoft Word 6.0c
 * Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 95a

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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.

Additional query words: grey watermark water mark

Keywords: kbprint kbprb kb3rdparty KB187895

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