Font Problems when embedding Visio 2003 files into Word 2003

[Mark Wharton]

I've read a lot of posts here and on other forums about the problems people
are having with fonts and text using Visio 2003. I've been going crazy
trying to come up with a way to consistently get the correct results when
inserting a Visio drawing into Word 2003, and then having the text display
and print correctly. Most of my problems occur with the Symbol font or with
Unicode characters (like the mathematical symbol for infinity, for example).

Everything looks correct on-screen in Visio, but when the drawing is
inserted in Word 2003, I see problems. In some cases, the last row of pixels
on text characters gets clipped off. This problem occurs with normal fonts
like Times New Roman, for example. In other cases, Unicode characters or
Symbol font characters get changed to other characters when viewed in Word.

On one series of postings, I read a flame war where some of the Microsoft
contributors were insisting that this problem is caused by printer drivers,
especially with printers using PCL 3, and HP contributors were insisting
that it was a Microsoft problem.

I've tried a lot of tests and have found a simple way to demonstrate the
problem. This method should completely eliminate any concerns about
third-party drivers, because it uses only Microsoft software. My test setup
uses XP Pro with SP2; Office 2003 and Visio 2003 with SP1, and with all of
the latest updates from the Windows Update and Office Update sites.

Here is my test: Open Visio 2003 and change the printer to "Microsoft Office
Document Image Writer". Create a simple drawing with a text box. Type
"abcdefg" in 12-point Times New Roman font. Create another text box and type
"abcdefg" in 12-point Symbol font. Save this drawing to your desktop in two
formats, "Enhanced Metafile (*.emf)" and "Windows Metafile (*.wmf)". You can
then view both of these drawings by double-clicking on them, which will open
the Windows Picture and FAX viewer component of Windows XP.

When I try this, the .emf formatted file looks correct on-screen, while the
..wmf formatted file shows garbage characters substituted for the symbol font
characters. When the Visio drawing itself is embedded into a Word document
(Copy Drawing in Visio; Paste Special in Word; try any of the choices of
linking or pasting), the same thing happens. The text in Symbol font is most
likely to get messed up. Sometimes the embedded file will look correct
on-screen in Word, but if you change the embedded object's formatting (for
example, from "In Line with Text" to "In Front of Text"), the symbol font
characters will change. If instead you have pasted a Link to the Visio
drawing into the Word document, it will sometimes look correct on-screen
until you choose "Update Link", at which point the symbol font characters
change.

Note that this can be demonstrated without a third-party printer driver
being part of the equation. It occurs using ONLY Microsoft software and
drivers. If you are also going to experiment with embedding the Visio file
into a Word document, change the printer in Word to "Microsoft Office
Document Image Writer" also, to be consistent.

Can anybody else reproduce this problem?

Does anybody know of a reliable work-around, or if Microsoft is aware of
this problem and if they are working on a fix?

I'm beginning to think that the only reliable way to avoid font problems
with Visio 2003 is to go back to Visio 2000, which did not exhibit these
problems. I could create drawings and embed them in Word to my heart's
content, and they ALWAYS looked correct on-screen and printed correctly.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

The problem of a row of pixels being clipped from objects embedded in Word
is a Microsoft bug. You may have seen other posts about Visio 2003 and
problems with HP printers, but those have been corrected with Service Pack 1
of Visio 2003.

The issue you are seeing is a problem with the GDI+ rendering surface that
Office applications use. Unfortunately, there is no fix available right
now.

 

[Mark Wharton]

Mark:

Thanks for responding. I am using Service Pack 1 of Visio 2003 and still see
the problem with pixel clipping, even with printers using PCL 5. Further
testing yesterday leads me to believe that this problem occurs with the
enhanced metafile format only. Word must use that format when embedding
Visio objects.

That's unfortunate that there is no fix for the font handling problems. This
problem makes Visio 2003 unusable for my application. I will have to roll
back to Visio 2000 for now. That's too bad. I really like the improvements
to the user interface in Visio 2003. The team did a nice job making the look
and feel of Visio 2003 more like the other office applications. I have found
it much easier to create drawings, edit text, magnify, and move around the
page with the newer version and will hate to roll back.

Thanks for the honest admission that this is a Microsoft problem.

Mark

| The problem of a row of pixels being clipped from objects embedded in Word
| is a Microsoft bug. You may have seen other posts about Visio 2003 and
| problems with HP printers, but those have been corrected with Service Pack
1
| of Visio 2003.
|
| The issue you are seeing is a problem with the GDI+ rendering surface that
| Office applications use. Unfortunately, there is no fix available right
| now.
|
| --
| Mark Nelson
| Microsoft Corporation
|
| This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
|
| | > I've read a lot of posts here and on other forums about the problems
| > people
| > are having with fonts and text using Visio 2003. I've been going crazy
| > trying to come up with a way to consistently get the correct results
when
| > inserting a Visio drawing into Word 2003, and then having the text
display
| > and print correctly. Most of my problems occur with the Symbol font or
| > with
| > Unicode characters (like the mathematical symbol for infinity, for
| > example).
| >
| > Everything looks correct on-screen in Visio, but when the drawing is
| > inserted in Word 2003, I see problems. In some cases, the last row of
| > pixels
| > on text characters gets clipped off. This problem occurs with normal
fonts
| > like Times New Roman, for example. In other cases, Unicode characters or
| > Symbol font characters get changed to other characters when viewed in
| > Word.
| >
| > On one series of postings, I read a flame war where some of the
Microsoft
| > contributors were insisting that this problem is caused by printer
| > drivers,
| > especially with printers using PCL 3, and HP contributors were insisting
| > that it was a Microsoft problem.
| >
| > I've tried a lot of tests and have found a simple way to demonstrate the
| > problem. This method should completely eliminate any concerns about
| > third-party drivers, because it uses only Microsoft software. My test
| > setup
| > uses XP Pro with SP2; Office 2003 and Visio 2003 with SP1, and with all
of
| > the latest updates from the Windows Update and Office Update sites.
| >
| > Here is my test: Open Visio 2003 and change the printer to "Microsoft
| > Office
| > Document Image Writer". Create a simple drawing with a text box. Type
| > "abcdefg" in 12-point Times New Roman font. Create another text box and
| > type
| > "abcdefg" in 12-point Symbol font. Save this drawing to your desktop in
| > two
| > formats, "Enhanced Metafile (*.emf)" and "Windows Metafile (*.wmf)". You
| > can
| > then view both of these drawings by double-clicking on them, which will
| > open
| > the Windows Picture and FAX viewer component of Windows XP.
| >
| > When I try this, the .emf formatted file looks correct on-screen, while
| > the
| > .wmf formatted file shows garbage characters substituted for the symbol
| > font
| > characters. When the Visio drawing itself is embedded into a Word
document
| > (Copy Drawing in Visio; Paste Special in Word; try any of the choices of
| > linking or pasting), the same thing happens. The text in Symbol font is
| > most
| > likely to get messed up. Sometimes the embedded file will look correct
| > on-screen in Word, but if you change the embedded object's formatting
(for
| > example, from "In Line with Text" to "In Front of Text"), the symbol
font
| > characters will change. If instead you have pasted a Link to the Visio
| > drawing into the Word document, it will sometimes look correct on-screen
| > until you choose "Update Link", at which point the symbol font
characters
| > change.
| >
| > Note that this can be demonstrated without a third-party printer driver
| > being part of the equation. It occurs using ONLY Microsoft software and
| > drivers. If you are also going to experiment with embedding the Visio
file
| > into a Word document, change the printer in Word to "Microsoft Office
| > Document Image Writer" also, to be consistent.
| >
| > Can anybody else reproduce this problem?
| >
| > Does anybody know of a reliable work-around, or if Microsoft is aware of
| > this problem and if they are working on a fix?
| >
| > I'm beginning to think that the only reliable way to avoid font problems
| > with Visio 2003 is to go back to Visio 2000, which did not exhibit these
| > problems. I could create drawings and embed them in Word to my heart's
| > content, and they ALWAYS looked correct on-screen and printed correctly.
| >
| > Any suggestions?

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

My workaround has been to paste the Visio drawings as Enhanced Metafile
images into Word rather than embed the Visio drawings as objects in Word.
The image is perfect but you sacrifice editability of the graphic. I just
keep the original Visio document handy for times when I need to make an
update.

 

[Mark Wharton]

Mark:

The Enhanced Metafile files that Visio 2003 outputs are the ones that are
messed up. If I do as you suggest and save a Visio drawing as Enhanced
Metafile and then paste that file into Word as an image, when the Word
document is printed (or when it is converted to pdf) the right-most column
of pixels on some of the text gets clipped off. But at least the fonts are
correct.

If instead I save in Windows Metafile format, then the clipping problem goes
away but the fonts get messed up. Unicode characters and some symbol font
characters get replaced with the wrong character (this one shows up
on-screen; you don't have to print the Word document to see it).

Saving as a TIFF image or a PNG image format file eliminates the above
problems, but the resolution suffers, and the pasted image has this
background "fuzz" all over it (a pure white area does not come out as pure
white).

Any idea if and when there may be a fix?

Thanks for your suggestions,

Mark

| My workaround has been to paste the Visio drawings as Enhanced Metafile
| images into Word rather than embed the Visio drawings as objects in Word.
| The image is perfect but you sacrifice editability of the graphic. I just
| keep the original Visio document handy for times when I need to make an
| update.
|
| --
| Mark Nelson
| Microsoft Corporation
|
| This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
|
| | > Mark:
| >
| > Thanks for responding. I am using Service Pack 1 of Visio 2003 and still
| > see
| > the problem with pixel clipping, even with printers using PCL 5. Further
| > testing yesterday leads me to believe that this problem occurs with the
| > enhanced metafile format only. Word must use that format when embedding
| > Visio objects.
| >
| > That's unfortunate that there is no fix for the font handling problems.
| > This
| > problem makes Visio 2003 unusable for my application. I will have to
roll
| > back to Visio 2000 for now. That's too bad. I really like the
improvements
| > to the user interface in Visio 2003. The team did a nice job making the
| > look
| > and feel of Visio 2003 more like the other office applications. I have
| > found
| > it much easier to create drawings, edit text, magnify, and move around
the
| > page with the newer version and will hate to roll back.
| >
| > Thanks for the honest admission that this is a Microsoft problem.
| >
| > Mark
| >
| > | > | The problem of a row of pixels being clipped from objects embedded in
| > Word
| > | is a Microsoft bug. You may have seen other posts about Visio 2003
and
| > | problems with HP printers, but those have been corrected with Service
| > Pack
| > 1
| > | of Visio 2003.
| > |
| > | The issue you are seeing is a problem with the GDI+ rendering surface
| > that
| > | Office applications use. Unfortunately, there is no fix available
right
| > | now.
| > |
| > | --
| > | Mark Nelson
| > | Microsoft Corporation
| > |
| > | This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
| > rights.
| > |
| > | | > | > I've read a lot of posts here and on other forums about the problems
| > | > people
| > | > are having with fonts and text using Visio 2003. I've been going
crazy
| > | > trying to come up with a way to consistently get the correct results
| > when
| > | > inserting a Visio drawing into Word 2003, and then having the text
| > display
| > | > and print correctly. Most of my problems occur with the Symbol font
or
| > | > with
| > | > Unicode characters (like the mathematical symbol for infinity, for
| > | > example).
| > | >
| > | > Everything looks correct on-screen in Visio, but when the drawing is
| > | > inserted in Word 2003, I see problems. In some cases, the last row
of
| > | > pixels
| > | > on text characters gets clipped off. This problem occurs with normal
| > fonts
| > | > like Times New Roman, for example. In other cases, Unicode
characters
| > or
| > | > Symbol font characters get changed to other characters when viewed
in
| > | > Word.
| > | >
| > | > On one series of postings, I read a flame war where some of the
| > Microsoft
| > | > contributors were insisting that this problem is caused by printer
| > | > drivers,
| > | > especially with printers using PCL 3, and HP contributors were
| > insisting
| > | > that it was a Microsoft problem.
| > | >
| > | > I've tried a lot of tests and have found a simple way to demonstrate
| > the
| > | > problem. This method should completely eliminate any concerns about
| > | > third-party drivers, because it uses only Microsoft software. My
test
| > | > setup
| > | > uses XP Pro with SP2; Office 2003 and Visio 2003 with SP1, and with
| > all
| > of
| > | > the latest updates from the Windows Update and Office Update sites.
| > | >
| > | > Here is my test: Open Visio 2003 and change the printer to
"Microsoft
| > | > Office
| > | > Document Image Writer". Create a simple drawing with a text box.
Type
| > | > "abcdefg" in 12-point Times New Roman font. Create another text box
| > and
| > | > type
| > | > "abcdefg" in 12-point Symbol font. Save this drawing to your desktop
| > in
| > | > two
| > | > formats, "Enhanced Metafile (*.emf)" and "Windows Metafile (*.wmf)".
| > You
| > | > can
| > | > then view both of these drawings by double-clicking on them, which
| > will
| > | > open
| > | > the Windows Picture and FAX viewer component of Windows XP.
| > | >
| > | > When I try this, the .emf formatted file looks correct on-screen,
| > while
| > | > the
| > | > .wmf formatted file shows garbage characters substituted for the
| > symbol
| > | > font
| > | > characters. When the Visio drawing itself is embedded into a Word
| > document
| > | > (Copy Drawing in Visio; Paste Special in Word; try any of the
choices
| > of
| > | > linking or pasting), the same thing happens. The text in Symbol font
| > is
| > | > most
| > | > likely to get messed up. Sometimes the embedded file will look
correct
| > | > on-screen in Word, but if you change the embedded object's
formatting
| > (for
| > | > example, from "In Line with Text" to "In Front of Text"), the symbol
| > font
| > | > characters will change. If instead you have pasted a Link to the
Visio
| > | > drawing into the Word document, it will sometimes look correct
| > on-screen
| > | > until you choose "Update Link", at which point the symbol font
| > characters
| > | > change.
| > | >
| > | > Note that this can be demonstrated without a third-party printer
| > driver
| > | > being part of the equation. It occurs using ONLY Microsoft software
| > and
| > | > drivers. If you are also going to experiment with embedding the
Visio
| > file
| > | > into a Word document, change the printer in Word to "Microsoft
Office
| > | > Document Image Writer" also, to be consistent.
| > | >
| > | > Can anybody else reproduce this problem?
| > | >
| > | > Does anybody know of a reliable work-around, or if Microsoft is
aware
| > of
| > | > this problem and if they are working on a fix?
| > | >
| > | > I'm beginning to think that the only reliable way to avoid font
| > problems
| > | > with Visio 2003 is to go back to Visio 2000, which did not exhibit
| > these
| > | > problems. I could create drawings and embed them in Word to my
heart's
| > | > content, and they ALWAYS looked correct on-screen and printed
| > correctly.
| > | >
| > | > Any suggestions?