Freeform drawing preview colour in Powerpoint 2007

J

Ju_Cooper

I use a black background for most of my presentations. In PPT 2003 drawing
with the freeform tool would preview in white before the shape was finalised
by double clicking. In PPT 2007 the preview is black and hence invisible
while drawing the freeform, so I can't see what I am drawing! The results
are usually entertaining. I can't find any option to change the contrast
colour of the freeform tool (in 2003 it appeared to change automatically so
was dark on a light background). Same seems to apply to the scribble and
curve tool. I can change the background colour, but this seems unnecessarily
clunky.

Any suggestions on how to modify this behaviour? Many thanks.

Julian Cooper
 
E

Echo S

Oh, yeah, that's nasty. I'll report it as a bug.

Changing the background or drawing off the edge of the slide seem to be the
most likely workarounds.
 
J

Ju_Cooper

Thanks Echo,

Fortunately I still have PPT 2003 on my laptop so I'll go back to that when
drawing needed.

Julian

Echo S said:
Oh, yeah, that's nasty. I'll report it as a bug.

Changing the background or drawing off the edge of the slide seem to be
the most likely workarounds.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx


Ju_Cooper said:
I use a black background for most of my presentations. In PPT 2003 drawing
with the freeform tool would preview in white before the shape was
finalised by double clicking. In PPT 2007 the preview is black and hence
invisible while drawing the freeform, so I can't see what I am drawing!
The results are usually entertaining. I can't find any option to change
the contrast colour of the freeform tool (in 2003 it appeared to change
automatically so was dark on a light background). Same seems to apply to
the scribble and curve tool. I can change the background colour, but this
seems unnecessarily clunky.

Any suggestions on how to modify this behaviour? Many thanks.

Julian Cooper
 
E

Echo S

To be quite honest, that's what I usually do. I'm surprised, though, we
haven't seen this one reported before. (Maybe it's because we're all using
2003 for drawing?!)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx


Ju_Cooper said:
Thanks Echo,

Fortunately I still have PPT 2003 on my laptop so I'll go back to that
when drawing needed.

Julian

Echo S said:
Oh, yeah, that's nasty. I'll report it as a bug.

Changing the background or drawing off the edge of the slide seem to be
the most likely workarounds.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx


Ju_Cooper said:
I use a black background for most of my presentations. In PPT 2003
drawing with the freeform tool would preview in white before the shape
was finalised by double clicking. In PPT 2007 the preview is black and
hence invisible while drawing the freeform, so I can't see what I am
drawing! The results are usually entertaining. I can't find any option to
change the contrast colour of the freeform tool (in 2003 it appeared to
change automatically so was dark on a light background). Same seems to
apply to the scribble and curve tool. I can change the background colour,
but this seems unnecessarily clunky.

Any suggestions on how to modify this behaviour? Many thanks.

Julian Cooper
 
P

Pia Bork

Ju_Cooper said:
I use a black background for most of my presentations. In PPT 2003
drawing with the freeform tool would preview in white before the
shape was finalised by double clicking. In PPT 2007 the preview is
black ...


I have no real solution only a workaround: if you change the view to
"Grayscale" you can see your freehand-form. It's nothing some wants to have
but it's a little help.


--
Mit lieben Grüßen
Pia Bork
MVP Powerpoint
http://www.ppt-faq.de
http://www.office-training-muenchen.de
 
E

Echo S

Pia Bork said:
I have no real solution only a workaround: if you change the view to
"Grayscale" you can see your freehand-form. It's nothing some wants to
have but it's a little help.

Oh, that's a nice one, Pia! Much easier than changing your background color
temporarily!
 
J

Ju_Cooper

Thank you Pia, that's very helpful. With the shortcuts now on my quick
access toolbar it's a lot easier. If only I could add them to my context
menu!

Best wishes,

Julian

Echo S said:
Pia Bork said:
I have no real solution only a workaround: if you change the view to
"Grayscale" you can see your freehand-form. It's nothing some wants to
have but it's a little help.

Oh, that's a nice one, Pia! Much easier than changing your background
color temporarily!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx
 
P

Pia Bork

I'm glad to help! Alter the context menu is above my head, but maybe ALT+W+O
is a quick way to View/Grayscale and ALT+B+C back to color.

Pia

Ju_Cooper said:
Thank you Pia, that's very helpful. With the shortcuts now on my quick
access toolbar it's a lot easier. If only I could add them to my
context menu!

Best wishes,

Julian

Echo S said:
Pia Bork said:
Ju_Cooper wrote:
I use a black background for most of my presentations. In PPT 2003
drawing with the freeform tool would preview in white before the
shape was finalised by double clicking. In PPT 2007 the preview is
black ...


I have no real solution only a workaround: if you change the view to
"Grayscale" you can see your freehand-form. It's nothing some wants
to have but it's a little help.

Oh, that's a nice one, Pia! Much easier than changing your background
color temporarily!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

--
Mit lieben Grüßen
Pia Bork
MVP Powerpoint
http://www.ppt-faq.de
http://www.office-training-muenchen.de
 

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