Background gradients print repeated or tiled. How to adjust?

Question

When we choose a gradient as a background, the gradient appears on screen to stretch across the document. But when we print it, the gradient is tiled--repeated across the paper.  The print preview does not show the repeat. I cannot find a setting that lets us control the position and stretch of the gradient. How can we make our gradients print as they appear on the screen?

Answer 1

I've encountered this as well and what I did is add a rectangle to the header/footer layer, resized it to fit the page, and filled it with a gradient.

To edit the header/footer: right-click in the header or footer area and then click Edit Header/Footer. You may want to decrease your zoom so you can see the entire page.

To insert a shape: Use the Insert tab, Shapes gallery, select the rectangle and draw it to fit the page.

To change the fill: On the Drawing Tools Format tab, in the Shape Style group, click Shape Fill, click gradient, and then click More Gradients. Modify the gradient style to your preference.

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~Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP

Answer 2

I'm glad it will work for you. :-)

Also, if you need to use the same background (or a similar background) on multiple documents you can save it in the Header Building Blocks gallery so it will be faster to insert it the next time. If you need steps for this:

1. Edit the Header/Footer
2. Select the rectangle
3. On the Insert tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Header
4. Click Save Selection to Header Gallery (near the bottom)
5. In the Create New Building Block dialog box, add a name and leave the gallery as Header. If you want it to appear at the top of the Header gallery, create a new category and

precede the name with a space or a symbol so it will sort to the top.

The next time you need to insert your background you'll find it in the Header gallery. Since it's in that gallery, it will automatically be inserted in the Header/Footer layer.

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~Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP

Answer 3

Thanks, Beth. That sounds doable, if somewhat annoying.

Answer 4

Ganesh, that link appears to be a different issue--transparent auto shapes rotating on printing? Did you mean a different article?

Answer 5

Unfortunately that is how it works if you use background color as gradient. As a workaround you have to convert the gradient style as picture and then try to insert the picture as gradient style in the background.

Refer the link for more information on this issue:-

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/841352?p=1

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Ganesh Kumar N