Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Works Suite 2004 - Spreadsheet

May 14, 2006 11:38PM PDT

I have created a spreadsheet all in black - have made one line "red" to stand out - it displays on screen in red also in print preview - when I print and I do have printer set to print in all colors - the line that is "red" prints in a lite gray. Works is version 7.0 I have contacted MicroSoft - and they tell me seeing it came installed with my Dell - to contact Dell. Dell will not help over the internet - they request that I call a fee # -
My question is only - is the spreadsheet not capable of printing in 2 colors?
Thanks for anyhelp.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Sounds like a problem with the printer...
May 16, 2006 11:29AM PDT

Microsoft Works is more than capable of printing in color, and what is displayed in print previous should be printed. My first guess would be that there is a problem with your printer, so you should start in that direction. Open a photo editor (such as Microsoft Paint), draw a cheesy red image, and then print it. If it prints in red, you'll know Works is the problem, otherwise it lies elsewhere.

If the drawing in Paint prints out in greyscale, I'd perform a printer self-test, which is where you disconnect the printer from your computer then have it print out a test page. The instructions vary based on make/model, so we'll need that info before proceeding further down that road. My guess is that either you're out of red ink, the print head is damaged, or the printer software is messed up. The printer self-test should narrow it down to one or two things.

Give us a shout back with the model number.
John

- Collapse -
works 2004 spreadsheet
May 16, 2006 10:14PM PDT

Hi - From Paint Shop items print in RED - printer is Lexmark - Printrio - x1150 - if the problem is with works - as I mentioned it came installed on Dell - how would I go about reinstalling as it says only one install.
Thanks again

- Collapse -
Repairing MS Works...
May 17, 2006 5:31AM PDT

Well, that rules out the print cartridge and printer head as possibilities and points a finger directly as MS Works.

It's been a while since I used MS Works (I replaced it with MS Office on all my computers) so this may not be exact, but go File->Page Setup and look for an option concerning greyscale (on the Sheet tab I believe) and uncheck it if checked.

If that doesn't fix it, you can repair/reinstall Works. (That should be one installation, as in one license for installation on one computer...you're allowed to reinstall as necessary.) Depending on what model computer you have (Dell's changed it over time), you'll find MS Works on a separate set of CDs, the Dell Tools CD, or the Drivers and Utilities CD. Locate the folder for Works, then launch the installer. You'll be given the choice to perform a repair install or uninstallation...the repair option should be fine.

Hope this helps,
John

- Collapse -
Repair MS Works
May 19, 2006 2:53AM PDT

There was not a repair on the cd - so I did a reinstall with out an uninstall - still same problem - Thanks

- Collapse -
Check???
May 20, 2006 7:15PM PDT

Hi I have created a Spread Sheet with Works Suite 2005 and "Selected a "Cell" line and used "Borders" [from under "Format" on toolbar] and changed the Cell lines to Red.

My Print preview and a Print out shows showed lines "Red" [HP DJ840C]

I wonder if you had a look to see if you have your printer box "Printing Preferences" set to "Print in Grey Scale"

- Collapse -
Printing in Red
May 21, 2006 2:06AM PDT

Thanks will give this a try - My printer - Lexmark x1150 does not have "print in grey scale" listed - it does list print color in black & white which I have unchecked.

- Collapse -
Might try Open Office - it's a free Office-like suite which
May 21, 2006 4:20AM PDT

offer programs the match Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc., Believe it makes Works look very basic.

- Collapse -
Open Office
May 22, 2006 3:57AM PDT

where can I locate this software - thanks

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) It's free from OpenOffice.org
May 22, 2006 5:51AM PDT
- Collapse -
works 2004 spreadsheet
May 22, 2006 3:55AM PDT

Thanks for the info - tried and did not work. Perhaps 2004 does not allow spreadsheets in 2 colors

- Collapse -
Not a Works problem, probably.
May 21, 2006 6:03PM PDT

I would try to install the latest printer driver (download from Lexmark).

If that doesn't help see if you can find an other printer to try this. It takes some time, but there's always the possibility to print to pdf after installing FREE Cutepdf (use Google to find it) and the Ghostscript library. Then you can have a look at the pdf to see if it contains any colors. I'm not sure it supports colors, but that's easy to find out by 'printing' a Paint picture or colored text in the word processing module of MS Works.
If there are colors in the pdf, see if Adobe reader (or whatever pdf-reader you have) will print it.

Hope this helps.


Kees