Microsoft KB Archive/209679

= The font colors do not appear as expected when you use Word 97 to open a Word 2000 document that contains different font colors =

Article ID: 209679

Article Last Modified on 1/23/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q209679



SYMPTOMS
When you use Word 97 to open a Microsoft Word 2000 document [or a version of the document that has been saved in Rich Text Format (*.rtf)] that contains different font colors, the font colors do not appear as expected.



CAUSE
This behavior occurs because of the different way that each program handles color palettes. Word 2000 supports 24-bit RGB color, but Word 97 supports 16-bit color and has a limit of 50 RGB colors. Thus, colors that are similar to each other in Word 2000 are translated to a single color in Word 97.

For example, the font color Dark Green is translated to Green when a Word 2000 document is opened in Word 97. However, when a Rich Text Format version of the same Word 2000 document is opened in Word 97, the Dark Green font color is translated to Black.



WORKAROUND
If you are sharing your documents with Word 97 users, try using primary colors.



MORE INFORMATION
When you use Microsoft Word 97 for Windows to open a Word 2000 document that contains text formatted with different font colors, the font colors may change unexpectedly, as shown in the following table.

NOTE: The shading in some cells of the table was added so that the font colors could be more easily displayed.

When you use Microsoft Word 97 for Windows to open a Word 2000 document saved as Rich Text Format (*.rtf) and containing text formatted with different font colors, the font colors may change unexpectedly, as shown in the following table.

NOTE: The shading in some cells of the table was added so the font colors could be more easily displayed.

