XL97: Text May Print on Top of Drawing Objects

In Microsoft Excel 97, text contained in worksheet cells may print in front of drawing objects, rather than behind them.

This may occur if you are using a printer driver that does not properly handle the mix of text and graphics generated by Microsoft Excel 97 when you print a worksheet.

There are two possible solutions to this problem:

• Turn on the "Print TrueType as graphics" option for your printer. To do this:
  
  
  1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
  2. Secondary-click the printer whose settings you want to change. On the shortcut menu, click Properties.
  3. Click the Fonts tab.
  4. Select the "Print TrueType as graphics" option button.
  5. Click OK.
     
     Once this setting is enabled, text contained in cells should print correctly behind drawing objects, not in front of them.
  -or-
  
  
• Obtain a newer printer driver for your printer. If your printer manufacturer has a home page on the Internet, you may be able to obtain a driver by visiting their home page. Web addresses for some popular printer manufacturers are included here:
  
  
  Collapse this tableExpand this table

  Printer Manufacturer	Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
  Canon	http://www.canon.com (http://www.canon.com)
  Epson	http://www.epson.com (http://www.epson.com)
  Hewlett-Packard	http://www.hp.com (http://www.hp.com)
  IBM / Lexmark	http://www.lexmark.com (http://www.lexmark.com)
  Toshiba	http://www.toshiba.com (http://www.toshiba.com)

  
  
  NOTE: These addresses are current as of 9/23/99 and may change at any time.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

In Microsoft Excel, you can use the various tools on the Drawing toolbar to create drawing objects or AutoShapes within your worksheets. Such objects float above the worksheet, in an area known as the drawing layer.

When you view or print preview a worksheet that contains such drawing objects, the objects appear in front of cells in the worksheet. This is correct behavior.

However, some printer drivers contain a problem that will cause text behind drawing objects and AutoShapes to print in front of them instead. If you print a worksheet and the text and objects print incorrectly, you should follow one or both of the workarounds in the RESOLUTION section to eliminate the problem.