Presentations may not print correctly when you print to an HP LaserJet 8550 or 4500 printer in PowerPoint

When you print to an HP LaserJet 8550 or an HP LaserJet 4500 printer in Microsoft PowerPoint, you may experience the following issues:

• Pictures that have transparency and that overlap print incorrectly.
• Picture fills that have transparency do not follow the shape, and print as a square or as a rectangle.
• Some pictures that you recolor print with the original color.
• Some metafiles that you rotate print unrotated.
• Some Portable Network Graphics (PNG) files that have transparent regions print incorrectly.

These issues occur if you use either the Windows Printer Control Language (PCL) driver for HP LaserJet 8550, for HP LaserJet 4500, or if you use the HP PostScript printer driver for the same two printers.

To work around these issues, use different drivers with your HP LaserJet printer.

Method 1: Download the new PCL printer driver

If you use the Windows version of the HP LaserJet 8550 or 4500 PCL printer driver, download the latest HP PCL printer driver. To do so, visit the following HP Web site: Type the model name of printer that you use, press ENTER, and then click the hyperlink that corresponds to your model of printer. The appropriate download page will appear.

Method 2: Switch to the Windows PostScript driver

If you are running Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP, install the Windows PostScript driver version for your printer. For additional information about how to install this Windows PostScript driver, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

• For the HP LaserJet 4500 printer, use the HP C LaserJet 4500-PS driver.
• For the HP LaserJet 8550 printer, use the HP Color LaserJet 8550-PS driver.

If you are running Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, install the Adobe 4.5.2 PostScript printer driver. To download the Adobe PostScript printer driver, visit the following Adobe Web site: Follow the installation instructions to install the driver and to configure it to work with your printer.

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