Slides look good until printing. Big black blocks cover up words

Rivlake

unread,

Jan 28, 2010, 3:45:02 PM1/28/10

to

When I hit print preview, there are big black blocks that cover the words on
the left side of the pages. Also, there are black blocks behind the two pics
I have in the "Comparison" format. They are also there when I print. There
are no black blocks on the pages when I am adding or editing them. Only when
I print. I want to punch this program right now.

Presentation Studio

unread,

Jan 28, 2010, 11:36:46 PM1/28/10

to

are you printing in black and white? have you checked out the greyscale
settings?
07: view / greyscale settings - adjust the black box with the options/ e.g.
light greyscale/ dont show etc.

03: view/ color/ greyscale/ greyscale/ settings on the pop up box.

--
Emma Bannister
PowerPoint Specialist
www.presentationstudio.com

"Rivlake" <Riv...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:917EF3CC-3082-43B4...@microsoft.com...

Rivlake

unread,

Feb 1, 2010, 10:35:01 AM2/1/10

to

I cannot click on "don't show" as it is not highlitable. (sp?) The blocks
cover the words whether it is in color or black and white. I changed the
grey scale to every option available and the blocks still cover about 90% of
the words in the text boxes. It only shows up in print preview and when
printing. Whether I am printing full pages in color or black and white, or 3
per page in color or black and white, every slide with a pic and words has
black blocks over about 90% of the words. I have two other slides that were
set up as blanks with text boxes inserted that do not have this problem.

Bill Dilworth

unread,

Feb 2, 2010, 10:23:17 AM2/2/10

to

Some printer's (and their silly driver's) do not handle transparency
settings well. In fact - they don't. Is it possible that the black boxes
are gradient fills that fade to transparent?

Bill Dilworth

"Rivlake" <Riv...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:917EF3CC-3082-43B4...@microsoft.com...

DerbyDad03

unread,

Feb 2, 2010, 1:46:50 PM2/2/10

to

When they "upgraded" the print drivers for our laser printers at work,
it broke a lot of our documents, including PP docs and PDF's, in just
the fashion you describe.

Shaded text boxes in Excel show the shading only, not the text behind
it, etc.

The best part of all this is that my firm recently merged with another
firm and the new "logo" contains both names. Soon after the merger,
our head office stopped accepting documents with the old logo and we
had to start using the new ones. (legal issues, I guess)

Unfortunately, the new logos print as a black box on most documents,
so it can't even be seen.

Like something straight out of a Dilbert cartoon, they will reject a
document with the old logo, but accept the ones with the black box.

Steve Rindsberg

unread,

Feb 2, 2010, 3:00:23 PM2/2/10

to

> Like something straight out of a Dilbert cartoon, they will reject a
> document with the old logo, but accept the ones with the black box.

Priceless.

Hm. If these are PostScript printers, you could have some fun with them.
There's a way to make EPS files that display one graphic but print something
entirely different to PostScript printers. Just think of the fun ...

==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/

Rivlake

unread,

Feb 4, 2010, 11:42:04 AM2/4/10

to

If so, how would I find out? The black blocks show up on print preview as
well, but not when just viewing and working on the slides.

"Bill Dilworth" wrote:

> .
>

Steve Rindsberg

unread,

Feb 4, 2010, 3:00:18 PM2/4/10

to

In article <709613CB-F9EF-450B...@microsoft.com>, Rivlake wrote:
> If so, how would I find out? The black blocks show up on print preview as
> well, but not when just viewing and working on the slides.

Look for shapes that have a transparent fill or that include a semi-transparent
gradient. Those typically turn either totally transparent or totally opaque
when printed to some printers.

If that's the problem, let us know. There's a workaround.

>
> "Bill Dilworth" wrote:
>
> > Some printer's (and their silly driver's) do not handle transparency
> > settings well. In fact - they don't. Is it possible that the black boxes
> > are gradient fills that fade to transparent?
> >
> > Bill Dilworth
> >
> > "Rivlake" <Riv...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:917EF3CC-3082-43B4...@microsoft.com...
> > > When I hit print preview, there are big black blocks that cover the words
> > > on
> > > the left side of the pages. Also, there are black blocks behind the two
> > > pics
> > > I have in the "Comparison" format. They are also there when I print.
> > > There
> > > are no black blocks on the pages when I am adding or editing them. Only
> > > when
> > > I print. I want to punch this program right now.
> >
> >
> > .
> >

j m

unread,

Nov 18, 2010, 8:49:56 AM11/18/10

to

I am having a very similar issue when printing an power point file using a postscript file. They are pasting part of a excel spread sheet into power point as windows meta file. There is a background image so the pasted file is transparent. The printer this needs to be printed on only has a PS driver. Any info on a work around would be greatly appreciated.

> On Thursday, January 28, 2010 3:45 PM Rivlake wrote:

> When I hit print preview, there are big black blocks that cover the words on
> the left side of the pages. Also, there are black blocks behind the two pics
> I have in the "Comparison" format. They are also there when I print. There
> are no black blocks on the pages when I am adding or editing them. Only when
> I print. I want to punch this program right now.

>> On Thursday, January 28, 2010 11:36 PM Presentation Studio wrote:

>> are you printing in black and white? have you checked out the greyscale
>> settings?
>> 07: view / greyscale settings - adjust the black box with the options/ e.g.
>> light greyscale/ dont show etc.
>>
>> 03: view/ color/ greyscale/ greyscale/ settings on the pop up box.
>>
>> --
>> Emma Bannister
>> PowerPoint Specialist
>> www.presentationstudio.com

>>> On Monday, February 01, 2010 10:35 AM Rivlake wrote:

>>> I cannot click on "do not show" as it is not highlitable. (sp?) The blocks

>>> cover the words whether it is in color or black and white. I changed the
>>> grey scale to every option available and the blocks still cover about 90% of
>>> the words in the text boxes. It only shows up in print preview and when
>>> printing. Whether I am printing full pages in color or black and white, or 3
>>> per page in color or black and white, every slide with a pic and words has
>>> black blocks over about 90% of the words. I have two other slides that were
>>> set up as blanks with text boxes inserted that do not have this problem.
>>>
>>> "Presentation Studio" wrote:

>>>> On Tuesday, February 02, 2010 10:23 AM Bill Dilworth wrote:

>>>> Some printer's (and their silly driver's) do not handle transparency

>>>> settings well. In fact - they do not. Is it possible that the black boxes

>>>> are gradient fills that fade to transparent?
>>>>
>>>> Bill Dilworth

>>>>> On Tuesday, February 02, 2010 2:12 PM DerbyDad03 wrote:

>>>>> on
>>>>> o pics
>>>>> =A0There
>>>>> y when

>>>>>
>>>>> When they "upgraded" the print drivers for our laser printers at work,
>>>>> it broke a lot of our documents, including PP docs and PDF's, in just
>>>>> the fashion you describe.
>>>>>
>>>>> Shaded text boxes in Excel show the shading only, not the text behind
>>>>> it, etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> The best part of all this is that my firm recently merged with another
>>>>> firm and the new "logo" contains both names. Soon after the merger,
>>>>> our head office stopped accepting documents with the old logo and we
>>>>> had to start using the new ones. (legal issues, I guess)
>>>>>
>>>>> Unfortunately, the new logos print as a black box on most documents,

>>>>> so it cannot even be seen.

>>>>>
>>>>> Like something straight out of a Dilbert cartoon, they will reject a
>>>>> document with the old logo, but accept the ones with the black box.

>>>>>> On Tuesday, February 02, 2010 3:00 PM Steve Rindsberg wrote:

>>>>>> Priceless.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hm. If these are PostScript printers, you could have some fun with them.

>>>>>> There is a way to make EPS files that display one graphic but print something

>>>>>> entirely different to PostScript printers. Just think of the fun ...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>

>>>>>> ==============================
>>>>>> PPT Frequently Asked Questions
>>>>>> http://www.pptfaq.com/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
>>>>>> http://www.pptools.com/

>>>>>>> On Thursday, February 04, 2010 11:42 AM Rivlake wrote:

>>>>>>> If so, how would I find out? The black blocks show up on print preview as
>>>>>>> well, but not when just viewing and working on the slides.
>>>>>>>

>>>>>>> "Bill Dilworth" wrote:

>>>>>>>> On Thursday, February 04, 2010 3:00 PM Steve Rindsberg wrote:

>>>>>>>> Look for shapes that have a transparent fill or that include a semi-transparent
>>>>>>>> gradient. Those typically turn either totally transparent or totally opaque
>>>>>>>> when printed to some printers.
>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> If that is the problem, let us know. There is a workaround.

>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ==============================
>>>>>>>> PPT Frequently Asked Questions
>>>>>>>> http://www.pptfaq.com/
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
>>>>>>>> http://www.pptools.com/

>>>>>>>> Submitted via EggHeadCafe
>>>>>>>> Excel Tips: Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
>>>>>>>> http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspnet/e426181a-90f1-4bdb-a58a-ef76c7e7cc85/excel-tips-net-present-value-npv-and-internal-rate-of-return-irr.aspx

carolynb...@gmail.com

unread,

Feb 17, 2019, 9:08:16 AM2/17/19

to

I have the same issue with transparent backgrounds. I download the Google side as a PDF then print the pdf version.

patrick...@gmail.com

unread,

Feb 20, 2019, 1:54:08 PM2/20/19

to

Following on the transparency hint, I re-exported my blackened PDF from Preview (Mac) using the reduced size option, which typically wipes off transparency on most PDF generating app.

In Preview, just do
File menu > Export > Quartz Filter : Reduce File Size > Save
bang, no more black squares on the new PDF.

Hope the workaround will be useful.