JPEG Image deterioration in Word 2003

[Stacey]

I have heard that once you have inserted a JPEG image into a Word Document,
the number of subsequent times you open that document can greatly reduce the
quality of the image - is this correct?

I have just created a catalogue in Word which printed out beautifully at
first and now the images have deteriorated considerably after opening the
document numerous times.

Any suggestions on how to improve the images would be greatly appreciated, I
don't want to have to redo the whole thing!

Thanks

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Stacey -

JPEG, by its very design, is what's called a "lossy" graphics file format -
each time it is re-saved it discards information based on its compression
algorithms. To avoid what you're experiencing here is an idea, and there may
be some additional options suggested by others:

1- Insert the images as Linked rather than Embedded objects. This also keeps
the doc size smaller, but the image files need to be available when printing
- I normally keep the doc & the images in the same folder & send the whole
thing if printing from another location, and then (as an extension to
that...)

2- Create a PDF from the finished doc & print using that. There are any
number of capable free/shareware PDF generators out there even if you don't
want to invest in Acrobat (Primo PDF is often mentioned here).

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

My understanding is that images embedded in Word docs are internally
converted to PNGs, so there should not be any further loss when the document
is saved.

 

[Stacey]

Thanks Bob, I will try your suggestions and see how I go.

 

[Stacey]

Thanks for your response Suzanne.
--
S

My understanding is that images embedded in Word docs are internally
converted to PNGs, so there should not be any further loss when the document
is saved.

 

[Tim Murray]

My understanding is that images embedded in Word docs are internally
converted to PNGs, so there should not be any further loss when the document
is saved.

I have no other info on other versions of Word, but that is not correct for
JPEGs in Word 2000:

<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/220555>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Interesting that JPEG is the only format it *doesn't* convert to PNG. I
would still think, though, that the quality would be "frozen" or stabilized
when it's inserted, so that it's not like resaving in a graphics app.

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it may also depend on how the image is
actually inserted as well as a few other variables.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac