XL2000: Shadows on Drawing Objects may not Appear Correctly

When you create a drawing object in Microsoft Excel, if you apply a shadow to the drawing object, the shadow may appear differently than in earlier versions of Excel.

This will occur if all the following conditions are true:

�	The drawing object was created in Excel 2000. -and-
�	The drawing object is not filled (it is transparent). -and-
�	The workbook containing the drawing object has not been saved, or has been saved in the Excel 2000 format, closed and reopened.

If you create a drawing object in Excel and it needs to have a solid shadow, you must apply a fill to the drawing object. Use the following steps to do this:

1.	Select the drawing object.
2.	On the Format menu, click AutoShape.
3.	Click the Colors and Lines tab.
4.	In the Fill list in the Color section, click a color, or click Fill Effects and select a fill effect.
5.	Click OK.

The shadow will now appear solid.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

In Excel, drawing objects that you create can be filled or unfilled. Filled objects are opaque; unfilled objects are transparent and you can see cells or other objects through them.

In Excel 2000, when you create a drawing object, such as a rectangle, and then apply a shadow to the object, the shadow may not appear solid, but as a line. This will occur if the drawing object is not filled (it is transparent).

Shadows applied to drawing objects should appear correctly if any of the following conditions are true:

�	The drawing object was created in an earlier version of Excel. -or-
�	The drawing object is filled. -or-
�	The workbook that contains the drawing object is not saved in the Excel 2000 format.