Background graded colour print problem

[Cloudy]

When printing a document using a colour fill background, the colours are not
graded together, but rather printed as separate lines of repeated colour all
the way down the page.

In a blank document, when trying to use a coloured background page :

Format
Background
Fill Effects
Gradient tab : Two Colours (any) / Shading Style (horizontal) / Variant (any
of the four options)

If I use the same colour fill in a rectangle or text box, the colours grade
perfectly when printed. I wonder whether you could test this for me and/or
if you have a solution, I would be extremely grateful.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Cloudy;

There is no "solution" or "fix" because nothing is broken Backgrounds
are not intended to be printed. They are there for on-screen documents &
(heaven help us) web pages. The graphic effects are low resolution
insufficient for printed output. See Word Help on Background.

If you truly feel the need to over-saturate paper with ink you'll need to
produce your background in a graphics program & insert it into your document
as an image - either as a Watermark or in the Header.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Cloudy]

Hi Bob,

Tks for the reply. The graded colour background printout works fine in
PowerPoint and prints perfectly, it seems only Word has this specific
problem. I understand that in Word 2002 this function was used for web
pages, however, I was under the impression that this was not the case for
Word 2003? I have questioned the inidividual user about the previous use of
the background printouts and apparently she was able to do graded colour
background printing approximately a year ago via Word 2003 with no problems,
but since the building was rewired (not sure what this has to do with it),
things have changed. I have tried this same function on a few different pc's
and printers throughtout the building and still, only Word has the problem.
Any more ideas perhaps? Thank you again for your assistance. P.S. the user
uses the background printout for certificates for the children (we are a
primary school) hence her need to "saturate paper with ink".

Regards
Cloudy

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Cloudy:

Well, we would have no idea about Word 2003 in here. That's a PC version of
Word, and this is the Mac Word group

Cheers

Hi Bob,

Tks for the reply. The graded colour background printout works fine in
PowerPoint and prints perfectly, it seems only Word has this specific
problem. I understand that in Word 2002 this function was used for web
pages, however, I was under the impression that this was not the case for
Word 2003? I have questioned the inidividual user about the previous use of
the background printouts and apparently she was able to do graded colour
background printing approximately a year ago via Word 2003 with no problems,
but since the building was rewired (not sure what this has to do with it),
things have changed. I have tried this same function on a few different pc's
and printers throughtout the building and still, only Word has the problem.
Any more ideas perhaps? Thank you again for your assistance. P.S. the user
uses the background printout for certificates for the children (we are a
primary school) hence her need to "saturate paper with ink".

Regards
Cloudy

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Cloudy;

According to the Help in Word 2003 Backgrounds are still intended for web
page / screen use in that version. The print quality may have improved
somewhat over prior versions but I doubt it changed much. I honestly can't
say for sure because I never have reason to print them. I would expect any
noticeable improvement to have occurred in Word 2007.

PPt works differently from Word even though the feature & dialogs are
shared. It is a more graphics oriented app so graphics in general are more
richly implemented. This could be one of those distinctions just like
rotation of shapes containing text - i.e., in PPt the text rotates with the
shape whereas in Word the text remains horizontal even though you can rotate
the same type of shape in exactly the same way.

The only other suggestions I can offer are to make sure the printer driver
is up to date - that could conceivably make a difference - or use a filled
rectangle sized to order in the Header. Even though the same dialogs are
used for Background & Fills the mechanics behind the scene are different.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Cloudy]

Dear Bob,

My apologies for the delay in responding. Many many thanks for your time
and effort on this and I have taken your comments and advice on board. I
realise now that I am in the wrong discussion group, but its nice to see that
I could still get a positive response from yourself.

Kind regards
Cloudy Cassell

 

[CyberTaz]

Not a problem - many of us bounce back & forth between the 2 platforms... In
fact, I've got Vista launching in a VM right now so I can research an issue
for another poster If you do have PC Office specific issues, however,
you'll find a more expansive - though not necessarily better ;-) - group of
Windows users here:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx

Good Luck |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac