text box fill color transparency

[Dixon JDI]

if I set a fill color for a text box and set a transparency of say 80% to
lighten the clor up, when I print on inkjet or laser printer the text
background looks patterned even though screen looks ok. Is there way of
smoothing up the print copy to eliminate this pattern effect?

 

[DeanH]

The patterned effect is usually due to the capabilities (or lack of) of the
printers.
If you are doing the transparency purely to lighten the colour (and not to
allow something underneath to show through) then I would use the Fill Color,
More Colors, Custom to get the reguired colour without any transparency, then
your printers will probably produce a better effect.
Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[Dixon JDI]

The project I am working on came from a customer with these transparencies.
i have tried at least 4 different printers with no success. From a $200 Hp
to a $4,000 Xerox. Is there some setting I am missing that cures this
problem?

 

[DeanH]

Even with my $8000 Xerox I get this problem (boast-boast), hence I try not to
have any transparency in any part of a Word document.
Have you tried PDFing the document, then do the print? I get better results
of transparancy areas. Still not brilliant though.
Hope someone else may hop in here with a solution.
All the best
DeanH

 

[Dixon JDI]

Tried using every setting variation I could think of in PDF with no luck.
Some better but not good enough. I have not figured out what purpose is if
cannot print. Surely there is answer somewhere.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Publisher has this same issue. Our workaround is to create an auto shape the
size of the text box, fill, adjust the transparency, copy, paste special as a
..png, send to the back of the text box.