Access Report Prints Shaded

Hi All,

I have a report in Microsoft Access 2000 that appears with standard
blank font in a print preview and shaded grey font in a printout. I
don't want it to be shaded and can't figure out how it got that way.

This report is based on a simple query of the database. It is in
landscape mode, but there's a lot of data and I have the margins set to
0.2" on the left and right. It's only a page long. The labels and
text boxes on the report all have a ForeColor property of "0" (black).

What am I doing wrong? I've made lots of reports in Access and never
had this problem!

Thanks in advance,
Robin

<msrado@yahoo.com> wrote
[color=blue]
> I have a report in Microsoft Access 2000
> that appears with standard blank font in a
> print preview and shaded grey font in a print-
> out. I don't want it to be shaded and can't
> figure out how it got that way.[/color]
[color=blue]
> This report is based on a simple query of
> the database. It is in landscape mode, but
> there's a lot of data and I have the margins
> set to 0.2" on the left and right. It's only a
> page long. The labels and text boxes on
> the report all have a ForeColor property
> of "0" (black).[/color]

None of the settings you mention should cause the black to print as gray.
Are you seeing this on any other printing? If so, your black ink cartridge
may be getting low. Have you looked at the advanced settings of the print
dialog? Other than the ForeColor setting, I can't think of anything in
Access that might cause this phenomenon. (But, then, I learn new things
every day!)

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the response. I did check the printer, and everything else
- even other reports in the same database - comes out black. Its just
this report that's grey. I also tried playing with the advanced
settings of the printer with no luck.

This is a very large database. Do you think the report object could be
corrupt? Is there a way for me to fix a corrupt report without
deleting and rebuilding it?

Thanks,
Robin

Larry Linson wrote:[color=blue]
> <msrado@yahoo.com> wrote
>[color=green]
> > I have a report in Microsoft Access 2000
> > that appears with standard blank font in a
> > print preview and shaded grey font in a print-
> > out. I don't want it to be shaded and can't
> > figure out how it got that way.[/color]
>[color=green]
> > This report is based on a simple query of
> > the database. It is in landscape mode, but
> > there's a lot of data and I have the margins
> > set to 0.2" on the left and right. It's only a
> > page long. The labels and text boxes on
> > the report all have a ForeColor property
> > of "0" (black).[/color]
>
> None of the settings you mention should cause the black to print as gray.
> Are you seeing this on any other printing? If so, your black ink cartridge
> may be getting low. Have you looked at the advanced settings of the print
> dialog? Other than the ForeColor setting, I can't think of anything in
> Access that might cause this phenomenon. (But, then, I learn new things
> every day!)
>
> Larry Linson
> Microsoft Access MVP[/color]

msrado@yahoo.com wrote:
[color=blue]
> Thanks for the response. I did check the printer, and everything else
> - even other reports in the same database - comes out black. Its just[/color]

To possibly help out with Larry' attempts... you may or may not have
checked the following - forgive me if I sound like I'm underestimating
your skill, but these would be things I'd look at myself... 8)

I ran into something similar once a long time ago (A97) and it was the
actual fore color - arrrgh, kills me to write it that way!!! 8) 8) -
property. Check the property window of each control; for black, the
Fore Color property on the Format tab should be 0. Any other
combination could look black on a screen preview, but may or may not be
black when printed.

Another thing to check: is this a report you put together? Whether it
is or not, go to the code for that form (report design menu, View->Code)
and search for any lines that have anything to do with forecolor
properties. Colours (and other peroperties) of controls can be altered
in the code of a report/form to be quite different from what appears on
your design windows.

If none of this works, another thing you could try is copying the report
to a new report in the same mdb and see if that helps.

Write back if you're not sure what I'm talking about with any of the above.
--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "Whatcha doin?" - Ditto "TIM-MAY!!" - Me

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the advice. I already checked the ForeColor of all of the
report objects and they're all black. I created the report and there
isn't any module code behind it.

Copying didn't solve the problem - still all grey.

I'm going to play with it some more later today. Maybe I'll find that
one little property that's causing this ...

Thanks for the help,
Robin

Tim Marshall wrote:[color=blue]
> msrado@yahoo.com wrote:
>[color=green]
> > Thanks for the response. I did check the printer, and everything else
> > - even other reports in the same database - comes out black. Its just[/color]
>
> To possibly help out with Larry' attempts... you may or may not have
> checked the following - forgive me if I sound like I'm underestimating
> your skill, but these would be things I'd look at myself... 8)
>
> I ran into something similar once a long time ago (A97) and it was the
> actual fore color - arrrgh, kills me to write it that way!!! 8) 8) -
> property. Check the property window of each control; for black, the
> Fore Color property on the Format tab should be 0. Any other
> combination could look black on a screen preview, but may or may not be
> black when printed.
>
> Another thing to check: is this a report you put together? Whether it
> is or not, go to the code for that form (report design menu, View->Code)
> and search for any lines that have anything to do with forecolor
> properties. Colours (and other peroperties) of controls can be altered
> in the code of a report/form to be quite different from what appears on
> your design windows.
>
> If none of this works, another thing you could try is copying the report
> to a new report in the same mdb and see if that helps.
>
> Write back if you're not sure what I'm talking about with any of the above.
> --
> Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
> ^o<
> /#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
> /^^ "Whatcha doin?" - Ditto "TIM-MAY!!" - Me[/color]

I've seen some odd things happen on reports where there are graphics,
i.e., embedded image controls. Try adjusting the resolution in the
printer driver and see if the problem goes away. I had one report that
usually filled an 8.5x11 sheet suddenly start to print out on a size
that would fit on a postcard. Only this report would have a problem
and subsequent attempts to print would be normal. The printer involved
was an HP 2100. I adjusted the resolution in the driver down from
1200dpi to 600dpi and all was well. Try printing your report in draft
mode or see if your printer driver allows you to change resolutions to
something lower. Let us know what happens. Hope this helps!

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

I think you've hit on something there. I tried to reduce the printer
resolution from the Print dialog that pops up when I try to print the
report. I get a protection fault when I try to get at the printer
resolution settings. Any other report in the database behaves normally
when I try to reduce the printer resolution.

I'll look into the cause of this error tomorrow. I'll bet it will lead
straight to the problem. (I would do it tonight, but there are
children at home that need me to make them dinner!)

Thanks for the lead!
Robin

bruce@aristotle.net wrote:[color=blue]
> I've seen some odd things happen on reports where there are graphics,
> i.e., embedded image controls. Try adjusting the resolution in the
> printer driver and see if the problem goes away. I had one report that
> usually filled an 8.5x11 sheet suddenly start to print out on a size
> that would fit on a postcard. Only this report would have a problem
> and subsequent attempts to print would be normal. The printer involved
> was an HP 2100. I adjusted the resolution in the driver down from
> 1200dpi to 600dpi and all was well. Try printing your report in draft
> mode or see if your printer driver allows you to change resolutions to
> something lower. Let us know what happens. Hope this helps!
>
> Bruce[/color]

Hi Bruce,

Boy, you're good! That was the problem! I cleaned it up by creating a
new report, setting the report properties the same as the old report,
and copyng the objects from the old to the new. Now its great!

I'm not sure why the problem happened in the first place. I have two
guesses:

1) When I was creating this report, I threw in a sub-report, then
decided to delete it. That might have corrupted the report.

2) This database started out in Access 2 and has been converted
throughout the years. Its also gotten fairly large (35 Mb).

At any rate, its all good now. Thanks for the help!

Robin


bruce@aristotle.net wrote:[color=blue]
> I've seen some odd things happen on reports where there are graphics,
> i.e., embedded image controls. Try adjusting the resolution in the
> printer driver and see if the problem goes away. I had one report that
> usually filled an 8.5x11 sheet suddenly start to print out on a size
> that would fit on a postcard. Only this report would have a problem
> and subsequent attempts to print would be normal. The printer involved
> was an HP 2100. I adjusted the resolution in the driver down from
> 1200dpi to 600dpi and all was well. Try printing your report in draft
> mode or see if your printer driver allows you to change resolutions to
> something lower. Let us know what happens. Hope this helps!
>
> Bruce[/color]