Graphics behaving strangely in Word

[Juliev]

Hi,
It used to be that I could export .eps graphics from FreeHand and import
them into Word, and they would be readable and printable from my Mac as
well as from PCs. Not anymore. I am trying to export them in the following
formats:

PDF
EPS
JPEG
BMP

and nothing works.

The PDF graphics look blurry.
The eps (both Mac and generic versions) show up as black rectangles on the
screens of the PC users, although they print okay. They show up on my Mac,
but look very jaggy.
The JPEG graphics look very blurry.
BMP - Very blurry.

I am using FreeHand MX and Word v.10 on a Mac with latest version of OS
10. I would be grateful for any help. Thanks!
Julie

 

[Nate Goldshlag]

Hi,
It used to be that I could export .eps graphics from FreeHand and import
them into Word, and they would be readable and printable from my Mac as
well as from PCs. Not anymore. I am trying to export them in the following
formats:

PDF
EPS
JPEG
BMP

and nothing works.

The PDF graphics look blurry.
The eps (both Mac and generic versions) show up as black rectangles on the
screens of the PC users, although they print okay. They show up on my Mac,
but look very jaggy.
The JPEG graphics look very blurry.
BMP - Very blurry.

I am using FreeHand MX and Word v.10 on a Mac with latest version of OS
10. I would be grateful for any help. Thanks!
Julie

Julie,

Unfortuately this has never worked on Word X and continues not to work
with Word 2004. I have the same problems. Sounds like the EPS have
previews that the Mac can understand but not the PC, which is why they
show up as black rectangles on the PC. EPS previews are typically low
resolution TIFF. Freehand may have an option where at least the
preview is visible on both platforms. They will never look great on
screen, though, but will print well.

It is scandalous how poorly graphics work in Word 2004. See other
posts of mine about this.

I would be curious which was the last version of Word where this stuff
worked for you. I bet it was Word under OS 9 - 2001 or '98.

Nate

 

[Juliev]

Thank you very much Nate. "Scandalous" is right (and I can think of a few
other choice words as well).

Normally, I would never, ever attempt to carry out layout in Word; however, I
am doing a project for the government and they require it in Word. I have
torn out most of my hair trying to get graphics into this document.

You are right - the graphics I had done in FreeHand and imported into Word
under OS 9 worked great. In fact, interestingly enough, those old
graphics still work just fine in this new document. They look beautiful.

I hate it when software devolves. Thanks again for your comments. At least I
know it's not something I'm doing wrong.
-Julie