Certain Fonts Do Not Print Kerned on HP LaserJet 4 Printers

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c

SYMPTOMS

When you format certain TrueType fonts with the Kerning For Fonts option selected, the text does not print or display kerned on a Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet Series 4/4M printer. (To locate the Kerning For Fonts option, choose Font from the Format menu and select the Character Spacing tab.)

CAUSE

When you print using the HP LaserJet 4/4M or 4Si/4SiMX printer driver version 1.20, 1.26, or 1.27 (HPPCL5E.DRV) as the default printer, Word does not kern any font for which the printer substitutes a built-in version of the TrueType font. The printer driver does not contain kerning information for these fonts, so Word cannot print them kerned. For example, when you format text for the Times New Roman TrueType font, the printer driver substitutes the built-in version of Times New Roman for which it provides no kerning information.

For a list of which fonts do and do not print kerned, see the "More Information" section below in this article.

By contrast, if you switch to the HP LaserJet Series IIIsi printer driver, which uses the Windows TrueType font instead of a built-in printer font, the fonts print and display kerned as expected.

STATUS

Word is operating correctly, using the font information from the printer driver. For Word to print the kerned pairs, the HP printer driver must provide the necessary kerning information. To date, HP has not released an HP LaserJet Series 4 printer driver that prints kerning pairs correctly.

WORKAROUND

Method 1: If you select the Print TrueType As Graphics option in the

          printer driver Options dialog box, text prints kerned from Word.
          With this option selected, the fonts display kerned only if you
          have the appropriate HP font set installed that can render the
          screen font as a graphic.

          printer driver, which uses the Windows TrueType font instead of a
          built-in printer font, so the fonts print and display kerned as
          expected.

MORE INFORMATION

The two lists below include the fonts supplied with Word 6.0 as well as fonts from the Microsoft TrueType Font Pack, Microsoft TrueType Font Pack 2, and HP Font Pack.

Fonts That DO NOT Print Kerned

The following list contains the fonts that do NOT print kerned on the HP LaserJet 4/4M using version 1.20 of the printer driver:

Albertus Extra Bold Albertus Medium Antique Olive Arial CG Omega CG Times Clarendon Condensed Garamond Marigold Times New Roman Univers Univers Condensed

Fonts That DO Print Kerned

Arial Narrow Arial Rounded MT Bold Bell MT Braggadocio Centaur Century Gothic Colonna MT Contemporary Brush Elephant Footlight MT Light Gill Sans Ultra Bold Kino MT New Century Schlbk New Caledonia Parade