Skip to main content
H
High Country Furniture
Participant
June 23, 2016
Answered

When saving from publisher to PDF font color changes?

  • June 23, 2016
  • 12 replies
  • 58776 views

When creating a document on publisher and converting that doc to a pdf, the font color changes to gray, no matter what color font I use. I just got off the phone with publisher and they concluded that it's an issue with adobe. Anyone else have this problem?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer High Country Furniture

    I actually figured it out, (after quite some effort!). The issue was that the default printer on the computer was a b&w printer, making the text turn an odd gray, no matter what color I made the text.

    I knew that the printer had to be a color printer, HOWEVER; I did not know that merely having the document itself set up to print on a color printer is not enough. Any and all printers that have been selected as default have to be color printers.

    12 replies

    M
    mikem92584752
    Participant
    July 22, 2023

    SOLVED.  I was experiencing the same issue: true type fonts changing to grey while images retained their colors upon exporting to PDF from Publisher.  I don't have a color printer on my network to change to "default" within Windows as the other solutions suggested.  For me - selecting "Print" within Publisher, then choosing printer: "Microsoft Print to PDF" worked perfectly.  All font colors were retained in the created PDF.

    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 22, 2023

    Microsoft Print to PDF is a virtual printer from Microsoft an as a virtual printer, it prints in colour too. Also here, there were no Adobe tools involved. The problem is publisher and/or Windows and the solutions will be found or need to be found on a Microsoft forum. 

     

    Solutions have been handed out, I will lock this old thread now.

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
    L
    Larry302022411m3y
    Participant
    June 1, 2023

    I just wanted to supplement the original answer which correctly describes the issue. Since I don't have a color printer to use as my default I did another work around. I did a right-click on my text box (headline with red text) in Publisher and chose "Save as Picture" then imported the image to use as my new header. It worked great as the application does not covert colors in images.

    K
    Karen29665917bma1
    Participant
    April 30, 2023

    I have created a monthly newsletter using MS Publisher for 12 years using the same computer and printing on the same printer. Last month for the first time any red titles and headings were converted to black when copying to a .pdf. Pictures and images reproduce fine. Only red or blue text I have included are black. It can't be the program or the equipment unless there has been a program change that has created this very unsettling result. How can I go about converting my Publisher document to .pdf so I can email my newsletter in its original colorful form.

    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 1, 2023
    quote

    Last month for the first time any red titles and headings were converted to black when copying to a .pdf. Pictures and images reproduce fine. Only red or blue text I have included are black. It can't be the program or the equipment unless there has been a program change that has created this very unsettling result.


    By @Karen29665917bma1

    How did you create the PDF file? Did you use the “File→Save as PDF”? Not every tool creating a PDF file involves an Adobe tool, as Dov says (https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/when-saving-from-publisher-to-pdf-font-color-changes/m-p/8391499#M25261).

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
    K
    Ken27372020y162
    Participant
    November 30, 2022

    There is hope for people with B&W printers.  When saving as a PDF there is an options tab.  Clicking on this gives 4 selections: Standard, High quality, Commercial, and custom.  Selecting any of of the bottom 3 will give you a true color output based on how you want it printed or displayed.  Publisher has created a way.  You can also choose Microsoft Print to PDF and choose RGB.  This will create a printed PDF in a file to save on  your computer in your selected colors. Refer to the following link for an understanding of the the different printing qualities.  https://www.gflesch.com/blog/cmyk-printing#:~:text=CMYK%20is%20a%20four%2Dcolor,helps%20achieve%20a%20true%20color.

    D
    default6fr21q39j4ou
    Participant
    January 14, 2021

    That worked for me! 
    I had to change my default printer to colour.
    Click the Windows button, type Devices and Printers, right click your color printer and select Set as default.
    Maybe there's no hope for people with B&W printers?!
    And that's to save as a PDF to upload to my website which I don't even want to print.

    D
    dianes51363768
    Participant
    October 2, 2020

    Hooray for your answer!! By changing my default printer to my color printer with the preference for color mode, the PDF is now in full color - including the colored links. I previously settled for "print as PDF" which kept the colors but the colored links didn't work. Now it all works with the right colors throughout and the right links. Thank you so much for sharing your solution!!

    T
    Ted2K
    Participant
    May 29, 2020

    Hey there, I know this is an old thread, but I found that when saving as a PDF, once you have clicked save as PDF, click options, then select CUSTOM! This made all the difference for me! 

      C
      Cathy5E13
      Participant
      August 22, 2020

      Thank you SO much for this timely tip.  Hard to select a different default printer if you don't have a color printer to select! Choosing "CUSTOM" worked for me.

      C
      CFDA1
      Participant
      March 14, 2020

      Changing the default printer solved the problem for me!

      Thanks for the info

      D
      Debbe 459
      Participant
      December 17, 2019

      Totally saved my bacon on a simple newsletter. Changed the default printer and I was good to go.

       

      Thanks

        D
        Daver101
        Participant
        November 25, 2019

        Well here we are in November 2019, and the problem still exists in Office 365. I seem to be like a lot of you, black and white printer set as default, but there is  a colour printer available, so the problem is easy enough to work  around.

        And I use Publisher to produce magazines of various sizes. It  is a great product for what it does.

        But glad that this thread was still here Adobe. Thanks.

        S
        storolaf
        Participant
        February 5, 2020

        Wow, 4 hours trying to fix this, 2 hours on Publisher tech support which after doing nothing to solve it and finally wanted to charge me $29/ hour...which led me to think of when it started....well it worked before I updated MS Windows a week ago, so undid, redid that, and updated Office about the same time to redid that, and then trying to save it as  JPEG file (came in color) putting on Adobe photoshop and then saving it there worked as PDF but lost some resolution.....As was trying to improve that, I found this site.....thanks guys. it works....now I remember, switching printers just after New Years, when our big commerical color printer in office was taken off general use and back to just the one at my desk and which led me to changing defaults....now I got colored fonts....why it just affected text and not pictures befuddled everyone.........what a silly useless glitch, but many thanks

        Show more replies
        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices