XL: Characters Displayed Incorrectly in Pasted Bitmap Picture

• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, when you paste a bitmap picture to a worksheet or chart sheet that has a View Zoom option that is set to less than 100%, the characters in the bitmap picture are unreadable.

CAUSE

When you paste a bitmap picture to a worksheet or chart sheet that has a View Zoom option that is set to less than 100%, the bitmap is also scaled to the zoom percentage; this zooming causes the text in the bitmap picture to appear "chopped."

NOTE : When you set the View Zoom option to 100% on a chart sheet, bitmap pictures that have been pasted on the chart sheet are not scaled. Because of this lack of scaling, when you paste a bitmap picture to a chart sheet, and the bitmap picture is scaled, the bitmap is not correctly scaled back to 100% when you set the View Zoom option for the chart sheet to 100%.

Objects on a worksheet, however, are scaled correctly when you change the View Zoom option.

An example of when this problem may occur is when you paste a bitmap picture of a chart to another chart sheet. When you create a chart sheet in a workbook, the chart sheet is displayed with a View Zoom option of less than 100% so that the entire chart can be viewed in the window. If you then paste a bitmap picture of a chart to this chart sheet, the pasted chart is scaled, and the text on the chart is displayed incorrectly.

WORKAROUND

To avoid this behavior when you paste a bitmap picture to a worksheet or chart, do any of the following:

• When you use the Copy Picture command to copy an object such as a chart or range of cells, use the Picture option under Format.

  -or-

• When you use the Copy Picture command to copy an object such as a chart or range of cells, use the As Shown When Printed option under Appearance.

  -or-

• Use the Zoom command on the View menu to change the Magnification option to 100% before you paste a bitmap picture to the sheet.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.