I have installed 5 PCs recently with Excel 2007. One PC is having problems in
that it cannot change any colors for fonts in a cell or for the cell's
background. Likewise it seems to have problem switching to some fonts, but
not to other for the text.

We start up with a blank worksheet, just type in some text in a cell or two,
and then cannot change colors at all - it remains black text at all times. If
we go to print preview (for a laser) it does show the cells as highlighted in
gray, but no font gray differences. So what might be going on with the
display however?

The person messed around with Windows Themes (XP) and wih Excel Themes, and
this is when the problem started. But I see nothing out of the ordinary.

So a) is there a way to reset ALL Excel defaults, and b) what might cause
this behavior (what can I look for)?

Thanks for any help.

This may be the source of the problem

Check this out................

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=833258

The fill color, the fill pattern, or the line color of a WordArt or
AutoShape object in an Office document does not change

As directed, change the High Contrast setting in Windows OS


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:06:07 -0800, Bezell
wrote:

I have installed 5 PCs recently with Excel 2007. One PC is having problems in
that it cannot change any colors for fonts in a cell or for the cell's
background. Likewise it seems to have problem switching to some fonts, but
not to other for the text.

We start up with a blank worksheet, just type in some text in a cell or two,
and then cannot change colors at all - it remains black text at all times. If
we go to print preview (for a laser) it does show the cells as highlighted in
gray, but no font gray differences. So what might be going on with the
display however?

The person messed around with Windows Themes (XP) and wih Excel Themes, and
this is when the problem started. But I see nothing out of the ordinary.

So a) is there a way to reset ALL Excel defaults, and b) what might cause
this behavior (what can I look for)?

Thanks for any help.

Thanks - that sounds exactly like the problem. I will have the customer try it.



"Gord Dibben" wrote:

This may be the source of the problem

Check this out................

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=833258

The fill color, the fill pattern, or the line color of a WordArt or
AutoShape object in an Office document does not change

As directed, change the High Contrast setting in Windows OS


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:06:07 -0800, Bezell
wrote:

I have installed 5 PCs recently with Excel 2007. One PC is having problems in
that it cannot change any colors for fonts in a cell or for the cell's
background. Likewise it seems to have problem switching to some fonts, but
not to other for the text.

We start up with a blank worksheet, just type in some text in a cell or two,
and then cannot change colors at all - it remains black text at all times. If
we go to print preview (for a laser) it does show the cells as highlighted in
gray, but no font gray differences. So what might be going on with the
display however?

The person messed around with Windows Themes (XP) and wih Excel Themes, and
this is when the problem started. But I see nothing out of the ordinary.

So a) is there a way to reset ALL Excel defaults, and b) what might cause
this behavior (what can I look for)?

Thanks for any help.