white backgrounds - setting transparent

[Chris Isaac]

I am having a problem when importing graphics into MS
Publisher 2002. No matter what I do to try and get a
transparent background, they keep showing up as white in
the image when brought into Publisher. When clicking on
the image with the white background, I do not get the
option in the Picture Toolbar for "Setting Transparent
Color" like I used to in older versions. The only
references I can find are references to "trapping" and
commercial printing which I don't think is what I'm
looking for. Any ideas on how to get the white backgrounds
transparent? Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[Ed Bennett]

After managing to set up OE-QuoteFix on his new PC, Ed reads a message

I am having a problem when importing graphics into MS
Publisher 2002. No matter what I do to try and get a
transparent background, they keep showing up as white in
the image when brought into Publisher. When clicking on
the image with the white background, I do not get the
option in the Picture Toolbar for "Setting Transparent
Color" like I used to in older versions.

Have you made the colours transparent in a graphics application, or are you
relying on Publisher to do this?
It was my belief that the Picture Toolbar and the Set Transparency Color
feature were only available in Publisher 2002 and later, so I do not
understand your comment about "older versions".
Have you got the Picture Toolbar shown?

 

[Chris Isaac]

-----Original Message-----
After managing to set up OE-QuoteFix on his new PC, Ed reads a message


Have you made the colours transparent in a graphics application, or are you
relying on Publisher to do this?
It was my belief that the Picture Toolbar and the Set Transparency Color
feature were only available in Publisher 2002 and later, so I do not
understand your comment about "older versions".
Have you got the Picture Toolbar shown?

--
Ed Bennett - MVP Microsoft Publisher
http://www.mvps.org/the_nerd/
Before reading this message, view the disclaimer:
http://mvps.org/the_nerd/disclaim.htm


.
Ed - Thanks for the reply. I have tried to make the

backgrounds transparent in Photoshop. I have only been
successful in getting it to save the transparent
background as a GIF file which doesn't have the resolution
I need. .bmp, .tif, .jpg, .eps files all come through with
the white background even though in Photoshop it looks
like the transparent background is preserved. I have the
Picture Toolbar shown in Publisher but I have no button
for "Set Transparent Color". I have been using Publisher
since Publisher 97 came out and I know that I have used
this feature in the past to just click on the white area
of the picture and set it to be the transparent color.
This allowed what was behind to show through. I even
remember one instance where there was white in the middle
of the image and the background and the stuff behind ended
up showing up in the middle of the image where the white
part was that I wanted to keep. It seems crazy to me that
Publisher wouldn't see this as an "everyday" need and
incorporate it into the application. Do you ever need to
do this? And if so, how do you achieve the end result of
no white box around the image?

 

[Ed Bennett]

After managing to set up OE-QuoteFix on his new PC, Ed reads a message

Ed - Thanks for the reply. I have tried to make the
backgrounds transparent in Photoshop. I have only been
successful in getting it to save the transparent
background as a GIF file which doesn't have the resolution
I need.

GIF files do have as much resolution as other image filetypes - it is just
the colour depth that they lack

.bmp, .tif, .jpg, .eps files all come through with
the white background even though in Photoshop it looks
like the transparent background is preserved.

Transparency colour can never be preserved in .bmp and .jpg formats - I'm
not sure about TIFF
EPS does preserve transparency colour - however, what you see on the screen
is the low-resolution preview image, which does not have the transparency.
The transparency may or may not print, depending mainly on your printer
driver.

I have the
Picture Toolbar shown in Publisher but I have no button
for "Set Transparent Color".

In my copy of Publisher 2002, I see "Set transparency color" between "Format
Picture" and "Reset Picture", towards the right end of the toolbar.
It may be that your toolbar has been docked and so some icons are being
hidden. To discover whether this is the case, drag the toolbar into the
publication area to float it, or click the chevron at the end of the
toolbar.

I have been using Publisher
since Publisher 97 came out and I know that I have used
this feature in the past to just click on the white area
of the picture and set it to be the transparent color.

I never discovered this functionality prior to Publisher 2002. How sad that
I missed out on years of transparent images.

It seems crazy to me that
Publisher wouldn't see this as an "everyday" need and
incorporate it into the application. Do you ever need to
do this?

I normally find the need to use semitransparency - such as gradients going
from transparent to a solid/semitransparent colour. This is even worse in
Publisher 2002, as the default shape tools support it, but it does not print
properly - it prints everything at 100% opacity, unless you have a very
specific printer driver (these are not that common - at the moment it is
only some drivers from some models of Canon printer installed on some PCs)

And if so, how do you achieve the end result of
no white box around the image?

When I need simple transparency, I normally use a transparent GIF, or a WMF.

 

[Randall Arnold]

Few bitmap formats actually support transparency. Besides GIF, there's TGA
(Targa) and PNG-- although the latter tends to be problematic (not all apps
support full PNG capabilities). Like Ed, I don't recall if TIFF has an
alpha channel for transparency or not. Transparent JPG has been a longtime
dream for many web designers, but it seems to be elusive...

Randall Arnold

 

[Chris Isaac]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. I think I might have a
problem with Publisher b/c I don't see the toolbar like
you are describing, Ed. I have a "standard" and
a "formatting" toolbar at the top of my screen. Those seem
to be the only available. When I click on a picture in the
publication, it shows me the formatting toolbar with the
options: Crop, Wrap text to frame, Wrap text to picture,
Fill Color, Line Color, Line/Border Style, Picture Frame
Properties, the two rotation buttons and the two flip
buttons. That's it. I don't have "reset picture" or the
other button you were talking about. If I go to "View -->
Toolbars" I only have four options: Standard, Formatting,
Measurements, Status Bar. Should I have more options?
Should "Picture" be listed here? At this point, I'm not
sure what's going on. Let me know if that is the toolbar
you are referring to or if mine is missing something.
Thanks. -Chris

 

[Ed Bennett]

After managing to set up OE-QuoteFix on his new PC, Ed reads a message

I don't see the toolbar like
you are describing, Ed. I have a "standard" and
a "formatting" toolbar at the top of my screen.

You said you had the Picture toolbar!
Have you tried a Detect and Repair in Publisher
Go to Help > About - check that it is Publisher 2002 that you are using.

Those seem
to be the only available. When I click on a picture in the
publication, it shows me the formatting toolbar with the
options: Crop, Wrap text to frame, Wrap text to picture,
Fill Color, Line Color, Line/Border Style, Picture Frame
Properties, the two rotation buttons and the two flip
buttons.

You have "Crop" on th *formatting* toolbar? It sounds like you are using
Publisher 2000.

That's it. I don't have "reset picture" or the
other button you were talking about. If I go to "View -->
Toolbars" I only have four options: Standard, Formatting,
Measurements, Status Bar. Should I have more options?
Should "Picture" be listed here?

Yes, and Yes

At this point, I'm not
sure what's going on. Let me know if that is the toolbar
you are referring to or if mine is missing something.

Your copy of Publisher 2002 sounds like a mish-mash of 2000 and 2002.
Please Detect and Repair.

 

[Brian Kvalheim - [MS MVP]]

Chris,

If you are running Microsoft Publisher 2002, then you
should have 7 toolbar options available when you right
click on the top toolbar area. Those toolbars are:

1. Standard
2. Formatting
3. Connect Frames
4. Measurement
5. Objects
6. Picture
7. WordArt

To me, it almost sounds like you are using Microsoft
Publisher 2000. Publisher 2000 only offers the 4 View
Toolbar options. Publisher 2002 offers substantially more.

So if you are actually using Microsoft Publisher 2000,
you need to go to Insert > Picture > New Drawing then
insert your clipart, then use the picture toolbar that
appears that shows the "Set Transparent" button on it.

If it's not Publisher 2000 that you have, we need to
reset your toolbars or possibly do a detect and repair.

Brian Kvalheim
Microsoft Publisher MVP
http://www.kvalheim.org

 

[JD Rocke]

The advanced tiff file output by Photoshop 6.0 maintains transparency.

 

[Mike Koewler]

Hemera Photo Objects has offered 32-bit tiff files with a transparency
mask for at least a couple of years.

Mike

 

[JD Rocke]

Addendum: Publisher 2003 Reads those files just file.