Way to set maximum width of all pasted-in images?

[Ted Kerin]

Hi -- sorry if this is a FAQ, but Googling didn't get me to quite this
question, and this group seems very knowledgable.

I regularly need to copy/paste documents into Word (I'm using Word 2003 SP1)
from a proprietary program that downloads a mix of text and image data, with
the images appearing at random intervals between sections of text. The
images are of various shapes and sizes.

For some reason, many of the images are oversized -- they run well off the
page in Word. This program also allows me to "Save As..." a Word doc, but
that gives the same result with oversized images. The prog does not seem to
have any built-in way of changing how the documents are handled, so I'm
hoping that there's a work-around in Word.

I don't think the images are "floating" (in case this matters), because, in
Word, they stay aligned to the left. I can grab each image by the top-left
corner and drag-shrink it, but this is very tedious when there are hundreds
of images in a document.

Is there a way to make all the images in a document auto-size to a certain
maximum width (and be any height needed to maintain proportions)?
Thanks...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If a graphic, when inserted, exceeds margin width, then it is indeed
"floating" or wrapped. You can change the default wrapping of
inserted/pasted graphics on the Edit tab of Tools | Options, and that should
help. If you want the images constrained to less than margin width, try
inserting in a table cell set to a preferred column width (with auto
resizing disabled).

 

[Ted Kerin]

Thanks very much for the response. But, I've looked at the choices under
Tools | Options | Edit, and I don't recognize anything that would do this. A
bit more help, please? Thanks again.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Choose "In line with text" under "Insert/paste pictures as."

 

[Ted Kerin]

Choose "In line with text" under "Insert/paste pictures as."

That's the default choice that I've had all along, and unfortunately the
issue persists.

Is there no way to fix this short of using a table cell? I need to advise
other users, and I'm afraid that will be beyond many of them.

Thanks,

Ted

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

What I missed was that you are pasting sections of text that already have
images in them. Those images may very well be formatted with different
wrapping, so the paste option wouldn't apply to them.

 

[Ted Kerin]

Thanks, Suzanne.

I don't really know how the images are wrapped, but would be happy to do any
tests you might suggest, if it would help.

For example, I can click on an image in the original application, and its
borders will become visible (the rectangle containing the image never
overlaps with text), and I could right-click on it to copy it or save it --
but, I can't move it around or across the page.

Similarly, after the text and images together are pasted into Word, I can
click on the image and see its borders -- and I can manually resize it by
dragging a corner handle -- but I can't relocate it, because it sticks to
the left margin no matter what size I make it.

Any other ideas or suggestions?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This sounds as if the images are inline. If they have square black sizing
handles (and you can see them in Normal view), they're inline. If they have
round white sizing handles and don't show up in Normal view, they're
wrapped. If that's the case, they should not be exceeding margin width.

 

[Ted Kerin]

The images, and (when the image is clicked) the square black sizing handles,
do show up in Normal View. So, apparently they are inline, as you said.

Does this suggest a possible solution?

Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If they're inline, I don't see how they're exceeding the margin width in the
first place.

 

[Ted Kerin]

If they're inline, I don't see how they're exceeding the margin width in the
first place.

Sorry, I have no idea how or why. The images behave in the way that I
described (whether that means they're "inline", I can't say), and many of
them are twice as wide as the text or the margins.

Maybe this is a clue: There's also an issue where, when the text-and-images
are copy-pasted into Word and saved as Word documents, if I then email the
document to someone, she will not be able to view the images. (I can see the
images on my own computer, but the email recipient cannot.) Instead, I have
to do a work-around using the "Edit | Links" menu, to "Save picture in
document" and "Break link", before I can Save to Word and then email the
document. Does this suggest how the images are being handled by the original
program, and perhaps a solution for the oversized images?

Thanks...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

When viewing the document, press Alt+F9. If in fact the pictures are just
linked, then you'll see an INCLUDEPICTURE field code. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+F9
will unlink the picture, and perhaps that will make a difference. If you're
copying this material from the Web, the pictures are certainly linked.

 

[Ted Kerin]

When viewing the document, press Alt+F9. If in fact the pictures are just
linked, then you'll see an INCLUDEPICTURE field code. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+F9
will unlink the picture, and perhaps that will make a difference. If you're
copying this material from the Web, the pictures are certainly linked.

Alt+F9 does show me the INCLUDEPICTURE code, although unfortunately
CTRL+SHIFT+F9 does not seem to help in emailing the doc with images.

Does this help with the issue of whether there's a way to re-size the images
automatically?

Thanks again...

 

[Ted Kerin]

Alt+F9 does show me the INCLUDEPICTURE code, although unfortunately
CTRL+SHIFT+F9 does not seem to help in emailing the doc with images.

Does this help with the issue of whether there's a way to re-size the images
automatically?

Thanks again...>

Correction: CTRL+SHIFT+F9 does fix the document for emailing the images --
if I first do Select All (or Select the image I want to unlink). I
appreciate this tip!

Again, does this knowledge help with the image size issue?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm not sure where emailing comes in. Are you emailing documents as
attachments or in the body of the email?

 

[Ted Kerin]

Actually, you have solved the emailing issue for me -- or, you have
provioded a simpler solution than my old one, which was that: If I
copy/pasted the text-and-images from the original program into Word, then
saved as a Word doc, then if I emailed that .doc to anyone, the recipient
would not see the images. I could see the images on my own computer, as part
of the Word doc, but email recipients would not see the images -- there
would just be a red X in the Word doc.

And my old work-around was that, after copy/pasting the text-and-images into
Word (but BEFORE saving the Word file as a Word document), I could go to the
Edit menu, click on Links; then, in the pop-up window, select all of the
image files; then check the "Save picture in image" box and click on "Break
link", and say Yes to that change. Then, re-save. After those steps, I could
email the document and recipients could see the images.

And, today, per your post, I found that, after copy/pasting into Word, I
can do CTRL+SHIFT+F9 (instead of doing all the clicks under Edit | Links as
above), then Save as a Word doc, and this will work equally well to allow me
to email the document, including the images, so that the recipient can see
everything.

And I appreciate that revelation -- it will save me a lot of clicks.

But, it's a separate issue. We only got into that discussion in my effort to
help you identify just how the images are stored within the records by the
original software (which does use the web to download the data), and what's
getting copy-pasted into Word -- hoping that this might be a clue to solving
the more troublesome issue:

How to resize the images to a maximum width when copy/pasting this data into
Word.

Thanks again.

------------------------

 

[Ted Kerin]

Sorry, in answer to your question, the problem with images not appearing
for email recipients, is when I email the documents as attachments.

As I said, this side-issue came up by way of my trying to shed some light on
how the images are handled by the original program that I copy-paste from --
my initial question beign about oversized images.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Well, I still think it's impossible for *inline* images to be exceeding the
margin width unless the paragraph they're pasted into has negative indents.

 

[Ted Kerin]

As I say, I don't know if the images "inline", but they behave as I've
described.

If you'd be interested in checking it out, I would be happy to send you a
very brief document that includes an example of such an oversized image,
exactly as pasted-in. Of course I would have to break the link to the image
first, for the reasons I've described. But this doesn't affect the size of
the image, as you would see.

If you wouldn't mind taking a look, please email me at:
tfkerin(AT)earthlink(DOT)net. Then, after I've sent an example, we could
continue in the group, to benefit others.

Thanks...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Yes, please send me a sample doc. The email address I use here is correct.