PPT2002: Graphics Appear Fuzzy When You Print Handouts with Three or More Slides on Each Page

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This article was previously published under Q314267

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SYMPTOMS

When you print handouts with three or more slides on each page, the graphics on the printed page appear fuzzy. The fuzzy appearance is more noticable if you compare these handouts to handouts printed in earlier versions of PowerPoint.

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CAUSE

This problem occurs because images on the handouts must be scaled to a smaller size. The algorithm that Office XP uses to compute the image at this smaller size produces a fuzzier, grainier, or lower-quality-resolution image.

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RESOLUTION

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date           Time  Version    Size       File name     
   -------------------------------------------------------
   18-FEB-2002    12:46  n/a       2,788      Readme.txt
   14-FEB-2002    23:11  n/a       6,270,796  Shared.msp
   15-FEB-2002    00:30  n/a       6,893,276  Shared_Admin.msp

After the hotfix is installed, the following files will have the listed attributes or later:

   Date           Time  Version     Size       File name     
   -------------------------------------------------------
   14-FEB-2002    11:31 10.0.3812.0 10,004,808 mso.dll

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

307841 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307841/EN-US/ ) OFFXP: How to Obtain the Latest Office XP Service Pack

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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you can run the following macro code in your presentation:

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs.
If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:

Microsoft Certified Partners - https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104 (https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104)

Microsoft Advisory Services - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice)

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;cntactms) Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

https://partner.microsoft.com/40011340 (https://partner.microsoft.com/40011340)

For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;cntactms)

Sub CopyPasteAsEMF() 
   ' OBJECTS
   Dim sld As Slide
   Dim sha As Shape
   Dim shaArray(1 To 255) As Shape
   Dim shaNew As ShapeRange

   ' COUNTERS
   Dim i As Integer
   Dim j As Integer 
   ' POSITION/SIZE
   Dim lngLeft As Long
   Dim lngTop As Long
   Dim lngHeight As Long
   Dim lngWidth As Long

   ' Loop through all the slides in the presentation
   For Each sld In ActivePresentation.Slides

      ' reset
      i = 0

      ' Build a Shape array for each slide
      For Each sha In sld.Shapes
         If sha.Type = msoPicture Then
            i = i + 1
            Set shaArray(i) = sha 
         End If
      Next sha

      ' Cut and paste each shape in the array
      For j = 1 To i
         ' get the settings for the shape
         lngLeft = shaArray(j).Left
         lngTop = shaArray(j).Top
         lngWidth = shaArray(j).Width
         lngHeight = shaArray(j).Height

         ' cut the shape in the array
         sld.Select
         shaArray(j).Select
         MsgBox "Copy and Pasting the selected shape on " & vbCrLf & _
                "Slide: " & sld.SlideNumber & vbCrLf & _
                "Shape: " & shaArray(j).Name, vbInformation, "CopyPasteEMF"
         shaArray(j).Cut

         ' paste it back on the slide(ppPasteEnhancedMetafile)
         Set shaNew = sld.Shapes.PasteSpecial(ppPasteMetafilePicture)
         
         ' setup the new pasted shape
         With shaNew
            .Left = lngLeft
            .Top = lngTop
            .Width = lngWidth
            .Height = lngHeight
         End With
      Next j
   Next sld
End Sub

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 2 (SP-2).

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