I have two PCs on my desk as part of a Novell 5.0 network. If I print
a file from Excel 97 (on a Windows 98 PC) to an HP LaserJet 5N on the
network, cells which have fonts set to gray via conditional formatting
print in gray. Okay, it's dithered, but it's close enough.

If I print the same file to the same printer using Excel 2003 on a
Windows XP machine, the same text prints in black. In addition, cell
shadings set in CF fail to print from the XP PC.

There is no problem printing to an almost new HP color inkjet printer
directly connected via USB to a different WinXP computer.

Rummaging through the NG postings, it seems as though we're not the
only ones experiencing this problem. It also seems as though there is
no solution.

I suspect this is a problem with printing through the Novell server.
We do not access the printer directly, but rather print to a print
queue on the server. Among other things, we cannot choose our optional
paper tray 3 in the Print dialog (although we can do so in Page Setup).
So it seems to me that the Windows XP driver for the HP printers
doesn't play well with the Novell print server software, and this CF
printing issue may be another manifestation of that.

I tried downloading and installing drivers from HP to see what would
happen. When I tried to print, Excel rolled over and died. So that's
not the answer.

I'll test printing to an HP LJ 6MP at home tonight to see if it's
merely an issue with printing to a monochrome laser printer using the
WinXP drivers.

What I'm looking for is information on which computer/network/printer
combinations allow Excel 2003 on a Windows XP machine to print
conditional formats as they appear on the screen (keeping in mind that
on a monochrome laser printer one would get shades of gray instead of
colors), and which do not. Two specific scenarios I'm looking for are
printing directly to a network printer, especially over a Novell
network; and printing via a Windows server.

If this information already exists somewhere and I just haven't
discovered it, I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction.
Thanks for any help anyone might be able to provide.