[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]
Hello,
PowerPoint will default to printing in grayscale mode, when printing to a
device which cannot produce color output. Since many presentations use
color heavily (primarily for on-screen display), PowerPoint automatically
adjust the color output so that objects which contrast well on-screen (in
color) will also contrast well when printed in either grayscale or black &
white mode. Otherwise color presentations would commonly result in very
dark, grayscale output using lots of toner when printed to black and white
devices.
The default adjustments can, however, be overridden and customized on a
per-object basis (including objects and background fills of the Slide
Master and Title Master) if you find that the automatic decisions by
PowerPoint are not what you want. There's lots of information how to do
this in the PowerPoint help files. Simply query on "print grayscale",
"print black and white", or "print troubleshooting" and you should get a
good list of applicable topics.
Additionally, you can preview how your presentation will print in either of
the three print modes (Color, Grayscale, Pure Black and White) using the
Print Preview command in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 (so that you can see
which objects don't print the way you want BEFORE you print). In all
version of PowerPoint that have the grayscale/black and white printing
feature you can also change to grayscale/black and white view while editing
your presentation and, while in this view, you can adjust how selected
objects print when using the grayscale print option.
If you (or anyone else reading this message) have other ideas about how
color presentations should print to black and white printers and/or how to
make this feature more useful (without having to resort to programming or
add-ins), don't forget to send your feedback to Microsoft at:
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
As with all product suggestions, it's important that you not just state
your wish but also why it is important to you that your product suggestion
be implemented by Microsoft. Microsoft receives thousands of product
suggestions every day and we read each one but, in any given product
development cycle, there are only sufficient resources to address the ones
that are most important to our customers so take the extra time to state
your case as clearly and completely as possible. Each submission should be
a single suggestion (not a list of suggestions).
John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows
For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of any included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm