Auto Detect Color in Document

[Melanie Strom]

When a document is printed, is there a way to automatically detect whether
the document contains color or is just black and white? We don't want people
printing to a color printer if their document is black and white, as there is
a cost difference. I know there is software that detects this, but can it be
done within Word somehow?

 

[Stefan Blom]

No, I don't see how Word should be able to detect which printer is
appropriate (a color or black and white printer).

But you can make use of a macro to force a certain printer--why not the
cheaper, black and white one? See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/macrosvba/ChangeCurPrinter.htm.

 

[Graham Mayor]

While automatically detecting whether the document has colour or not at
print time might be a tad awkward to arrange (though it might not be
impossible) it is certainly possible to give the user the choice of which
printer to use at print time. The basic code is covered at
http://www.gmayor.com/fax_from_word.htm. which can be modified to your
circumstances, and can be used to intercept the print commands.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Graham Mayor]

This problem has intrigued me and the following code used in conjunction
with the listprinters function mentioned on my web page will examine the
document for coloured text and graphical content. If either or both are
found it prompts for the user to make a decision about which printer to use,
otherwise it prints to the default printer.

See the web page for more detail and the listprinters function, but the
initial effort at producing the code resulted in the following. I have
disabled the line that prints the document in favour of a message box that
names the printer to which the document will be directed, thus saving ink
and paper while testing

Note that in a large document with no graphics and coloured font near to the
end, the macro could take a while to run.

I don't suppose for one minute that I have covered all possible scenarios
where colour may be involved. The macro can be seen merely as a starting
point.

Dim oWord As Range
Dim ovars As Variables
Dim wCol As Word.WdColorIndex
Dim sPrCol As String
Dim sPrinter As String
Dim StrPrinters As Variant, i As Long
With ActiveDocument
Set ovars = .Variables
ovars("PrintCol").Value = 0
If .InlineShapes.Count > 0 Then
ovars("PrintCol").Value = 1
GoTo PrintNow
End If
If .Shapes.Count > 0 Then
ovars("PrintCol").Value = 1
GoTo PrintNow
End If
For Each oWord In .Words
wCol = oWord.Font.ColorIndex
If wCol <> wdAuto And wdBlack Then
ovars("PrintCol").Value = 1
Exit For
End If
Next oWord
PrintNow:
sPrinter = ActivePrinter
If ovars("printcol").Value = 1 Then
sPrCol = MsgBox("This document contains graphics " & _
"and or coloured text." & vbCr & _
"Do you wish to print in colour?", _
vbYesNo, "Print Colour")
If sPrCol = vbYes Then
StrPrinters = ListPrinters
If IsBounded(StrPrinters) Then
For i = LBound(StrPrinters) To UBound(StrPrinters)
If InStr(UCase(StrPrinters(i)), "COLOR") Then
ActivePrinter = StrPrinters(i)
GoTo PrintDoc
End If
Next i
sPrCol = MsgBox("Colour printer not available" & vbCr & _
"Do you wish to print on the default printer?",
_
vbYesNo, "Print Colour")
If sPrCol = vbNo Then Exit Sub
Else
MsgBox "No printers found", vbInformation, "Print Colour"
Exit Sub
End If
End If
End If
PrintDoc:
MsgBox ActivePrinter
'.PrintOut
ActivePrinter = sPrinter
End With

 

[Stefan Blom]

Hmm, giving the user a choice was not an option in this case (assuming that
I understood the original message correctly)...

 

[Stefan Blom]

Good work!