One pixel wide lines & borders ?

[Patrik Wüthrich]

Hi

In Office 2004 / Excel 11 it was easy to draw one pixel wide lines and
borders. In Office 2008 / Excel 12 the slimmest line I get is at least
two pixels wide, always, whatever small as line width I enter.

Is there an option or setting somewhere that prevents this? Can't find
anything.

I create lots of charts and lists that are viewed on screen only and
for this purpose one pixel wide lines in 100% zoom were really
convenient and claimed little screen estate.

Patrik

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi

In Office 2004 / Excel 11 it was easy to draw one pixel wide lines and
borders. In Office 2008 / Excel 12 the slimmest line I get is at least
two pixels wide, always, whatever small as line width I enter.

Is there an option or setting somewhere that prevents this? Can't find
anything.

I create lots of charts and lists that are viewed on screen only and
for this purpose one pixel wide lines in 100% zoom were really
convenient and claimed little screen estate.

Patrik

Hi Patrik

I thought this problem was fixed by an update. Have you installed all of
the office updates? Excel>About Excel should say Latest Installed Update
12.1.5

You can still use the old chart engine by using Insert > Object >
Microsoft Graph Chart.

-Jim

 

[PeeWee]

I thought this problem was fixed by an update. Have you installed all of

the office updates? Excel>About Excel should say Latest Installed Update
12.1.5

Okey, my Excel was still 10.1.3 bcz I never got a update offered via
AutoUpdate. However I found the manual download on Mactopia. But it
seems to be no remedy in my case.

You can still use the old chart engine by using Insert > Object >
Microsoft Graph Chart.

I will try that for the charts. But the problem affects drawn lines
and objects as well. Even at zero point they stay two pixels wide.
If I zoom the page to 200%, the lines don't grow to double width, they
stay two pixels wide.

Thanks anyhow
Patrik

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Okey, my Excel was still 10.1.3 bcz I never got a update offered via
AutoUpdate. However I found the manual download on Mactopia. But it
seems to be no remedy in my case.


I will try that for the charts. But the problem affects drawn lines
and objects as well. Even at zero point they stay two pixels wide.
If I zoom the page to 200%, the lines don't grow to double width, they
stay two pixels wide.

Thanks anyhow
Patrik

Hi Patrik,

I don't know what to tell you. If I make a line, and double-click on
it, the Format Shape pane opens. On the Weights & Arrows tab I can set
the weight down to .5 and the line looks skinny.

If I make another line and set it to 2 points, then zoom in to 200%, the
..5 line looks much thinner than the 2 point line.

-Jim

 

[PeeWee]

If I make another line and set it to 2 points, then zoom in to 200%, the

.5 line looks much thinner than the 2 point line.

Hello. Thats the point. There is a change how thin lines are drawn in
Office 2008. In previous versions a 1 pt line was 1 pix wide, exactly
like the grey lines of the grid. Above 1.5 pt it switched to 2 pixels
and so on. Now there is some sort of interpolation that may look nice
in some cases. For me it's just undesired blurring.

Have a look at my example:
http://homepage.mac.com/peewee/excel_1pt_line.jpg

At 100% zoom the two lines look exactly the same, 2 pixels wide both.
At 200% zoom they are still 2 pix wide but the thinner one drawn in a
lighter color.

Cell borders still work the "old" way. 1 pt = 1 pix. No blurring.
Razor sharp.

Patrik