PNG graphic in Word - white prints as very pale grey

[Jon]

If I insert PNG graphic in Word (I've tried W97 & W2003), white (RGB all
equal to 255) gets converted to very pale grey (RGB all equal to 254) when I
print the document on my laser printer. JPEG and GIF don't have this
problem. Any suggestions of what I can do to make white really white with a
PNG. The original PNG that I inserted into Word definitely had true white
(RGB all equal to 255) in it.

If I do a screen capture of the Word document and analyse it in my photo
editing programme (Paintshop Pro), white is correct (RGB all equal to 255).
If I convert it to Acrobat and analyse the screen capture, white becomes
very pale grey (RGB all equal to 254). So it appears to be a printing
problem (since Word does a 'print' to produce an Acrobat document.

 

[Jon]

Perhaps someone could reply saying either they don't get this problem, or
that they do but there's no solution?

Thanks!

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Jon,

If I create a blank PNG rectangle that is all white
and print to a PDF file and then use an on screen
color checker it's still coming up as 255/255/255.

How is the PNG file created? Are you saving a
transparency color, or setting the grey scale
properties?

=======
If I insert PNG graphic in Word (I've tried W97 & W2003), white (RGB all
equal to 255) gets converted to very pale grey (RGB all equal to 254) when I
print the document on my laser printer. JPEG and GIF don't have this
problem. Any suggestions of what I can do to make white really white with a
PNG. The original PNG that I inserted into Word definitely had true white
(RGB all equal to 255) in it.

If I do a screen capture of the Word document and analyse it in my photo
editing programme (Paintshop Pro), white is correct (RGB all equal to 255).
If I convert it to Acrobat and analyse the screen capture, white becomes
very pale grey (RGB all equal to 254). So it appears to be a printing
problem (since Word does a 'print' to produce an Acrobat document. >>
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 Editions explained
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx

 

[Jon]

Hi Bob,

I tried the same with an all-white PNG rectangle. I tried PNG palette based,
PNG grey scale, and PNG full 24-bit colour. All produced 254 rather than
255. The same happens with TIFF files stored as CCITT 3 FAX format.

I use Paintshop Pro V7 to produce the PNG. If I display the PNG files in
Internet Explorer (via an HTML file) and do a screen capture, I get
255/255/255 as expected. I created the Acrobat file from Word using Acrobat
V6 writer software.

Sorry I made an error in my original email - a screen capture of the Word
document gives white as 254/254/254 for PNG, so it's a screen problem as
well as a printing problem (although it's only noticeable on the print-out).

What do you use as a screen colour checker?

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Jon,

I've a variety of screen color checkers. This is a simple
one. http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.html (free).

If I copy to the clipboard from a graphic program
and use paste into a Word document then I can get the 254/254/254
(it's pasting as a bitmap type in that case).

If I first save the graphic to disk and use Insert=>Picture=>From File
then it stays 255/255/255.

Are you saving the PNG with or without a transparent color?

=======
Hi Bob,

I tried the same with an all-white PNG rectangle. I tried PNG palette based,
PNG grey scale, and PNG full 24-bit colour. All produced 254 rather than
255. The same happens with TIFF files stored as CCITT 3 FAX format.

I use Paintshop Pro V7 to produce the PNG. If I display the PNG files in
Internet Explorer (via an HTML file) and do a screen capture, I get
255/255/255 as expected. I created the Acrobat file from Word using Acrobat
V6 writer software.

Sorry I made an error in my original email - a screen capture of the Word
document gives white as 254/254/254 for PNG, so it's a screen problem as
well as a printing problem (although it's only noticeable on the print-out).

What do you use as a screen colour checker? >>

 

[Jon]

Hi, Sorry for the late reply. The PNG does not have a transparent colour. I
use Insert>Picture>From File. I suspect that there's a rounding problem in
Word that only shows up in certain circumstances.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Jon,

Can you email me one of the graphics you're using
where you're seeing this change?

=======
Hi, Sorry for the late reply. The PNG does not have a transparent colour. I
use Insert>Picture>From File. I suspect that there's a rounding problem in
Word that only shows up in certain circumstances. >>

 

[Jon]

I've sent the following email to you Bob (hopefully I got the right email
address after removing the spam avoidance bits). Here it is without
attachements for the benefit of anyone else interested in this problem...


Thanks for your interest in this problem.

Here are three white blocks made in Paint Shop Pro V7 and saved as PNG
palette based, PNG greyscale and PNG full 24-bit colour (ie lossless
compression). I've also sent you the Word document with the three blocks
pasted in (using Insert>Picture>From File) and also a cropped version of the
screen capture saved as PNG full 24-bit colour in Paint Shop Pro which shows
the 254/254/254 problem with all three.

By the way, I've just discovered that turning up the contrast in Word to 51%
(under the Picture tab of the Format Picture dialogue box) for each picture
cures the problem, which makes me think even more that it's a rounding
problem within Word.

Best wishes,

Jon.

PS: I'm away for a week in a few hours time so won't be able to see any
replies.