Blank or Truncated Report after Changing Screen Resolution

If your OnePager chart is oversized, undersized, clipped, or completely blank, it's possible that you are encountering a known issue between Microsoft Project or Excel and older versions of Windows. While this is not a OnePager issue directly, it is something that can impact OnePager in certain circumstances.

The good news is that it's pretty easy to spot, and very easy to fix, as long as you or your helpdesk follow these instructions.

Examples of a Windows/Office Resolution Issue

Partial or Blank OnePager Reports

In this instance, the OnePager report is partially drawn, but has too much whitespace around the margins:

Report that has been clipped, cropped, truncated, or is not drawn completely. There is too much whitespace or white space around the edges and margins. It looks like it has zoomed incompletely. Portions are the chart are cut off almost as if zooming is causing the chart to be cut off.

In another example, the OnePager report is completely blank:

Empty report

Incomplete Screens

This example shows the OnePager start screen where some buttons appear, but the background and OnePager logo are missing:

Start screen not painted correctly

Here, the OnePager splash screen only shows the version information, but not the OnePager logo:

Incomplete splash screen

Cause

This issue is the result of a bug between Project or Excel and outdated versions of Windows. While it is not a OnePager issue, OnePager is impacted by this disconnect between Windows and Office. Microsoft has fixed this issue with newer versions of Windows 10, but if you are running an out-of-date version of Windows, it's possible for this issue to occur until Windows is up-to-date.

There are two main ways that the issue starts to happen:

Moving Project or Excel from one screen to another. This is common if you have external monitors or routinely dock or undock your laptop while Office is running.
Changing your screen resolution while Project or Excel is running

In both of these cases, your screen resolution is changing, which should cause Project or Excel to resize to the new resolution. The Windows issue is preventing Office from obtaining the updated resolution, and that stale resolution is being passed along to OnePager, which is what results in the incomplete reports and mis-painted screens.

Best Solution: Windows Update

Microsoft has fixed their issue with Windows 10, so if you use Windows 10, you can run a Windows Update, install all recommended patches, and the issue should go away on its own. Regardless of this issue, Windows Updates are a good way to maintain the stability and security of your computer, so we always recommend keeping Windows up-to-date no matter what.

Keep in mind that Windows Update only updates Windows (the operating system). While you are updating, it's also a good idea to install updates to Project and to Office. You can do this by going to File > Account > Update Options, and choosing the Update Now option.

Once both Windows 10 and Project or Office are up-to-date, please restart your computer.

Workaround: Restart Project or Excel

If you do not have time or permission to do a Windows Update, or are on an older version of Windows such as Windows 7 where Microsoft has not yet fixed the issue, you can prevent this issue from happening by closing OnePager and then closing Project or Excel. Once both are closed, launch Project or Excel from the correct monitor, and then launch OnePager, and you should no longer see the issue.

The simple act of restarting Project or Excel is a way around the Windows bug, because Office will pull fresh screen resolution information whenever it is given a clean start. Your new screen resolution will then be passed along to OnePager instead of the stale information from before.

Workaround: Use OnePager Standalone

OnePager only suffers from incorrect screen resolution when Project or Excel is sitting between it and Windows. Taking Office out of the mix allows OnePager to obtain its screen resolution directly from Windows instead of getting stale information from Office. To do this:

Close OnePager, and then close Project or Excel
Launch OnePager using either the desktop shortcut, or from the Windows Start menu (i.e. NOT as an add-in).
Optionally, you can now launch Project or Excel separately, if you'd like to have it running while you are using OnePager.

OnePager will run in parallel with Project or Excel without any screen resolution issues. It is the process of running inside Office as an add-in that is problematic on outdated versions of Windows.

Last Updated: December 27, 2019