Office 2016 for Mac - printing issue

Which font is exhibiting the issue?

Can you post a screenshot of it? (I believe you -- just helps to see it sometimes. :-) )

When you printed from 2011, was it on the same computer, and was it to the same printer?

so I can't take a screenshot, because it always looks fine on the screen, so I had to print and scan it. See below:

But first some more notes:
1) printing from 2011 always looks good (whether on same computer or different).
2) Font is standard Arial, but I changed to Calibri to test and the spacing, or 'kerning' still showed up
3) Noticed that its happening when font is small. So far, anything printed at 8 point shows the spacing issue.
4) In the example below, the top printout is the culprit where the bottom is how it is supposed to look
confidential.bmp

Something to do with kerning settings?

I thought so too, but I tried printing with the option enabled and also tried disabling it all together.

No difference.

Anything else I can look at?

Try changing the font smoothing options in OS X: http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/27/change-font-smoothing-text-os-x-yosemite/

@davismccarn
display-wise, everything is perfect. My powerpoint slides in Office 2016 looks perfect on screen. Only problem is when I print it. Then it looks bad. And its only on smaller than 12 point font, in particular, when I printer the footer of the slide.

Tried these things so far:
Tried different fonts. Happens on every font.
Tried printing from Office 2011. Works GREAT.

What is the make and model of the printer?

@davismccarn
At first I was using a Xerox XC560 with Mavericks drivers. Then updated to 1.1 (Yosemite) drivers and that still didn't work.

Also printed on a Brother HL-2270DW and the issue is still happening.

Print rendering is done by using a combination of the O/S, the print drivers, and then the application.  Things like fonts are often manipulated before they get to the printer drivers.
Please try the changing the font smoothing and see if that does the trick, OK?

So I tried unchecking the smoothing box, restarted the computer and tried to reprint, but it doesn't seem to fix the issue.

I've attached another scan of what's going on.

Top line is properly printed from Office 2011
Bottom line is printed from Powerpoint 2016

you can see how the improper spacing on the bottom example

Yuch!
I don't have Office 2016 to play with; but, check the font kerning (spacing) options in Powerpoint: http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/textandfonts/character-spacing-ppt2011-mac.html
Do you have the same options and do they make a difference?
(Careful in your thinking.... 2011 and 2016 almost undoubtedly handle kerning differently)

I referred to "kerning" in my earlier response, but the author replied with "... tried printing with the option enabled and also tried disabling it all together. No difference ..."

The images certainly look like different kerning options are set.

... or perhaps the font metrics of the printer-resident font are slightly different to those of the workstation-resident display font, or the content of some of the TrueType tables (e.g. cvt, fpgm, prep) which may have some effect with different font sizes, are slightly different? I'm assuming use of TrueType fonts - perhaps yours are Type 1, etc.?

is there an option to force downloading of a soft font to the printer, instead of substitution by a device font? I don't use Mac, so don't know what options are available.

Yes, we tried turning off kerning completely and the spacing issue still applies.

We are printing the same exact document from the same exact printer, but with the only difference being the version of Powerpoint (2011 or 2016)

What else can I look at?

Could you create a single-slide PPTX file that has the issue and upload it as an attachment? I'd like to see if anyone can reproduce it via their version of Office.

Also, do you only have one Mac with Office 2016? Maybe try printing it on a different Mac if possible, or maybe even a Windows PC that has Office 2016.

I don't think it's printer drivers, since the same slide prints fine in 2011 on the same computer. Also, you stated it happens in the PDF export as well, which shouldn't be utilizing printer drivers at all.

If it works properly on 2016 on other PCs/Macs, then maybe resetting the settings by deleting/moving the preference file for Powerpoint 2016 on the Mac:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Troubleshoot-Office-2016-for-Mac-issues-by-completely-uninstalling-before-you-reinstall-ec3aa66e-6a76-451f-9d35-cba2e14e94c0

Navigate to ~>Library > Containers and ctrl+click or right-click each of these folders if present, and then click Move to Trash.

com.microsoft.Powerpoint

Not to be confused with deleting/moving the preferences for Powerpoint 2011:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Troubleshoot-Office-2011-for-Mac-issues-by-completely-uninstalling-before-you-reinstall-ba8d8d13-0015-4eea-b60b-7719c2cedd17

Thanks for the suggestions, I have attached a sample PPTX file for you to try.

As a reminder, here's what I've tried to isolate it to:
1) It always appears on the screen just fine. It only looks bad when it is actually printed.
2) Tried from multiple Macs running Office 2016
3) When same file is printed from Office 2011, it looks perfect
4) Tried to print to a Xerox printer as well as a Brother printer
5) Don't have any Windows PCs with Office 2016, but have printed from Office 2010 just fine.
6) It seems that the spacing, or kerning problems only happens with size 8 font or smaller
7) Turned off and on all kerning options..didn't do anything
8) Only affected in Powerpoint 2016 for Mac. Works fine in Word 2016 for Mac

Let me know if you'd like me to try anything else!
Font-Test.pptx

So I tried it in 2010 & 2013 on Windows, and in 2011 on Mac. All 3 printed fine. However, it looks like PowerPoint Online has the issue too.

I'm leaning towards it being a problem with the 2016 version of Office. I don't have a copy to test myself, Mac or Windows, but you could get a trial of Office365 to try out the Windows version.

I'm attaching the exported/saved PDFs, since you stated that the issue appears in those as well (as it does with the PowerPoint Online file).
Font-Test_2010_PC.pdf
Font-Test_2011_Mac.pdf
Font-Test_2013_PC.pdf
Font-Test_PowerpointOnline.pdf

thanks for the upload. I see the differences even in Office 2013 for PC vs. Office 2011 on Mac

I wonder why there are differences even between those two.

Anyhow, so you share my thoughts on this affecting 2016 on Mac. Do you know how we can resolve something like this?