XL2000: Text May Print on Top of Drawing Objects

Text contained in worksheet cells may print in front of drawing objects, rather than behind them.

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

There are two possible solutions to this problem.

Method 1

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.	Right-click the printer whose settings you want to change. On the shortcut menu, click Properties.
3.	Click the Fonts tab.
4.	Click Print TrueType as graphics.
5.	Click OK. After this setting is enabled, text contained in cells should print correctly behind drawing objects, not in front of them.

Method 2

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:

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

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

If you do not have Internet access, you may need to contact your printer's manufacturer directly to see if a newer driver is available.

If you install a newer printer driver and the problem remains, use the first workaround (enable Print TrueType as graphics).

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are 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 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.