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#1 2007-07-23 16:12:50

ToddF
Member
Registered: 2007-07-23
Posts: 0

Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

Using Vista Ult. 32bit, Acrobat 8.0 Std, and Office 2007.  I have a word doc with imbeded excel spreadsheet that make a graph. Worked fine on XP with Acrobat 6.0 but now graph shows as big black box in pdf. Tried creating pdf file and printing to pdf file and both black box.   Help?
Thanks,
Todd Falcone
919-467-5151 x30


My Product Information:
Acrobat Standard 8 / Windows

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#2 2007-08-14 09:41:44

lkassuba
Moderator

Registered: 2007-06-29
Posts: 1463

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

Hi ToddF,

Acrobat 8 did not support Vista try this again with the Acrobat 8.1 update (which supports Vista) to see if it eliminates the problem.

Hope this helps,
Lori


Forum Moderator and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com

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#3 2007-08-24 08:00:55

lkassuba
Moderator

Registered: 2007-06-29
Posts: 1463

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

Hi ToddF,

Have you tried loading the Microsoft Office 2003 Hotfix? Here is the URL for more information:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.as … -us;837256.

Also, there is a Hotfix for Vista to resolve some printing issues at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930627

Please keep us posted,
Lori


Forum Moderator and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com

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#4 2007-11-21 07:33:18

lkassuba
Moderator

Registered: 2007-06-29
Posts: 1463

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

Hi ToddF,

I just wanted to bring your attention to a potential workaround for this black box issue on Vista that Eugene posted at:
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/ask_ … view/3824/

Thanks,
Lori


Forum Moderator and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com

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#5 2007-08-24 07:41:41

toppenkillen
Member
Registered: 2007-08-24
Posts: 0

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

Hi. I've got WinXP pro, office 2007, Acro 8.1 pro and tries to print a word file with embedded excel in it. No success, I get the black box syndrome.. :(

The Word/Excel doc I'm trying to pdf is originally made in an Office 2003 environment so I tested to create a brand new 2007 word file and embed a 2007 excel object into it. No problem!

I then tried to do Save-As Word 2007 *.docx file (i.e. to convert the Word 2003 file) and then pdf. Still black box. Opened up the the (now) 2007 Word file, double clicked on the Excel object for editing, marked/copied it into an new/empty 2007 Excel sheet. (Formulas and formatting became copied too.) Now I deleted the old (2003?) Excel object in the 2007 Word file, then marked and copied in the 2007 Excel cells (now converted from excel 2003?) back into the (saved-as) 2007 Word file, again as an embedded excel object. Printed, and voilą: It worked.

Seems that it's not only a Vista problem... Seems as if there also might be problems with the Acrobat plugin to Office 2007 when it comes to treat Office 2003 docs.

I really don't approve of all the manual work for this workaround. Please find a better solution/fix for us!

Comments?

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#6 2007-08-24 09:03:39

toppenkillen
Member
Registered: 2007-08-24
Posts: 0

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

Dear Lori Kassuba,
I'm not ToddF.
I don't have Office 2003.
I don't have Vista.
Please read my comment/question again.

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#7 2007-08-30 10:54:43

michaelprater
Member
Registered: 2007-08-30
Posts: 0

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

Lori,

I am also having this problem with Word 2007 and Windows XP.  I have Acrobat Professional 7.  I have a linked excel chart and it prints as a black rectangle.

I suspect the problem may be a Microsoft problem.  I see the same thing occur if I print the object to a postscript printer.

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#8 2008-04-08 19:46:30

MeanOldTeacher
Member
Registered: 2008-04-08
Posts: 1

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

I think this black box business may simply be an undocumented feature that they'll end up charging more for in a future version now that the word's out.  I'm using WinXP.  I get these boxes in some places on the page when I simply print some PDFs with Arcobat Pro 7.0.  If I print them with Reader 8.0 they print fine.  In either case they don't have the boxes when simply viewing them on the screen.  Although I don't mind using Arcobat Pro 7.0 for everything except printing, and Reader 8.0 for only printing, there seems to be a problem having them both installed on the same computer.  For a while they worked independently but now all I get is Arcobat Pro 7.0, no matter which one I try to run.  I've even gone directly to the .exe for Reader 8.0 but it still starts Arcobat Pro 7.0.  Go figure!  I have a 2nd computer with only Reader 8.0 on it so I now simply print all PDFs from there using Reader 8.0 and it works fine, but what a pain!

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#9 2008-05-06 11:57:01

glena
Member
Registered: 2008-05-06
Posts: 1

Re: Word doc with imbedded excel shows as black box

The black box problem seems to be related to use of postscript.  Although the problem does not appear in every instance when an Excel worksheet is linked into Word (currently using Office 2007, but we've experienced same problem with Office 2002/XP), the common denominator seems to be postscript.     

When we print hardcopy to a postscript printer or convert to PDF using Acrobat , the problem appears.  PCL printers (e.g. HP Laserjet 5) work fine.  The Microsoft PDF addin for Office 2007 eliminates the black box, but we notice  fidelity loss in the linked Excel objects, such as normal text appearing as bold in the Microsoft generated PDF.

So far, the best workaround I've found seems to be Scansoft PDF Converter.  This product generates a clean accurate PDF than can then be sent to a postscript printer for a clean hardcopy.   I'm using Scansoft Professional v3 successfully, but more recent versions (v4 or V5) seem to work OK as well.  Not a perfect solution here but we've got to deliver our reports, and this gets it done until Adobe/Microsoft figure out a better answer.

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