Excel (OLE Objects) only print in color after new Microsoft Office install

[ndawsonmccann]

Hello, 

I uninstalled and reinstalled Microsoft Office and now when I print a drawing that contains an OLE Excel object, it always prints the object in color.

I have tried right clicking on the OLE object and changing the plot quality from 'High graphics (e.g. photograph)' to 'Monochrome (e.g. spreadsheet)' without success. I have also tried making the same changes in Options > Plot and Publish > OLE plot quality.

Prior to the new install of Microsoft Office these OLE objects would always print monochrome. 

Any advice would be appreciated. 

[dmfrazier]

Have you installed all Office updates since re-installing?

Another thing to investigate is updates to printer drivers.

[jggerth]

Generally, I get much better, more predictable results by using tables and data links rather than OLE objects, especially with Excel.

But -- what version of MS Office?

And on Options, Plot & Publish tab, is the "Use OLE application..." check box on or off?  try swapping it to whatever it isn't

[ndawsonmccann]

Microsoft Office is up-to-date. I will have to confirm if the printer drivers are up to date. This is happening, even when I print to PDF. 

[ndawsonmccann]

I'm running Office 2013 and I have tried checking and unchekcing the "Use OLE application when plotting OLE objects" button without sucess.

[zalant]

I've tried to reproduce your results, but I'm getting black & white output. I assume that you're applying the monochrome.ctb plot style table, yes?

Try plotting the sample DWG I've attached to this thread. On my machine, which has Office 2013, I was able to plot to monochrome.ctb with the DWGtoPDF.pc3, and obtained the attached PDF.

One thing to double-check is that the colors you're using in your DWG are not True Color (RGB) colors, but rather, are indexed colors. RGB colors (like 42,214,99, for example) ignore plot style tables and retain their real colors.

[zalant]

Any luck? Please post back here the results obtained with the posted sample drawings, and what you may have found out with the colors in use in your OLE objects and AutoCAD's layers. If my sample DWGs plot as expected, but yours do not, please post a sample DWG file here and I'll be happy to check it out for you.

[ndawsonmccann]

No luck yet. Now any drawing that references that Excel file is crashing. I'll try and use that sample file later today. 

[ndawsonmccann]

I was able to print your Excel file without any trouble.

Here is what I have gathered so far. 

I have been inserting my Excel files through Edit > Paste Special > Paste Link. I think the link is what is causing the issue.

My temporary fix has been to rename the Excel file to break the link, then I can open the AutoCAD drawing. Then, delete the OLE object and do a regular Paste instead of Paste Link and that seems to be working so far.

[zalant]

Glad to hear that you've found a way to make it work. Do you think that the trouble (with crashing) is specific to the Excel file you are using?

Now that I know you were doing Paste Special > Paste Link As, I went back and did my testing that way. Within that option, there are two choices:

• Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet
• AutoCAD Entities

I ran it both ways.

Choosing the AutoCAD Entities option, the resultant AutoCAD table (with the Excel data) comes out in color, ignoring the monochrome.ctb. However, that is due to the colors I used in Excel coming through as True Colors (RGB) in AutoCAD, which are not subject to color-dependent plot styles. 

Choosing the Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet option, leaving the OLE Plot Quality setting to 'monochrome' yields black & white output (for that object), regardless of whether or not the monochrome plot style is applied to the plot job.

Hopefully, this will help out, going forward. If that one spreadsheet was causing a crash, though, there may be something amiss with it. (It certainly sounds like AutoCAD doesn't like it, anyway.)

[dbroad]

Zac,

I set up a simple spreadsheet and used the embed as a link on 2014, 2015, and 2016. Regardless of the olequality settings or the ole plot options or plot styles, it previewed and plotted in color (Excel 2010, AutoCAD 2014, 2015, and 2016).  I even tried the embed vs link option and it still did the same thing.  Seems like a bug to me.

[ndawsonmccann]

Hi Zac,

The crashing hasn’t been specific to a single Excel file. It may however have started due to me opening drawings that had Excel files embedded in them prior to me uninstalling and reinstalling of Microsoft Office.

I checked with my IT department, and the version of Office that I had before and after the uninstall were both 2013.