Troubleshoot matching printer and screen colors

For detailed information about your desktop printer's color capabilities, be sure to read the printer documentation.

Some colors don't look good in print.

Depending on the desktop printer and the print settings you select, the colors in your printed publication might differ from the colors that you see on the screen. Printing a color sampler before you design your publication will help you decide what colors will work best with your printer.

  1. On the Format menu, click Color Scheme.
  2. In the Color Scheme task pane, click Custom color scheme.
  3. Click the Standard tab, and then click Print color sampler.

I can only print a few of the colors I want.

Printers vary widely in the number of colors they support. Try formatting your publication in one or more of the following eight colors, and then print the publication again.

Black

Red

Blue

Violet

Bright Green

Yellow (on a colored background)

Orange

White (on a colored background)

Colors in clip art don't print well.

You can recolor a piece of clip art as a single color that prints well on your printer.

  1. Right-click the picture you want to change, and then click Format Picture.
  2. In the Format Picture dialog box, click the Picture tab.
  3. Under Image control, click Grayscale in the Color list.
  4. Click Recolor.
  5. In the Recolor Picture dialog box, select the color you want.
  6. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Every color swatch in the sampler has an X instead of a color.

The printer you've selected probably prints only in black and white. If you have access to a color printer, select it for your publication, and print a color sampler to compare print and screen colors.

Some colors print as black and white or as shades of gray.

Many color printers cannot print certain shades or patterns, so they substitute a pure color such as black or gray instead.

Your color printer also might have an option to print only in black and gray, so you might need to change the option to color. Check your printer documentation for details.