WORD 2007 PDF converter DPI resolution

[2-fingertyper]

No one at Microsoft seems to know what DPI (dots per inch) resolution their
built-in WORD 2007 PDF converted uses - of if there is a user interface to
select DPI. How do I find-out?

I use Offcie 2003 and am considering an upgrade to 2007 for their PDF
converter feature - but need more information than they provide on-line.

Also, the Microsoft Support page says click some button to find a Microsoft
store "here you" (sic) - presumably they mean "near you". Yikes. They list a
1-877 "my store" to call to order MS products. Give the number in numbers! I
translate 1-877 "my store" to: 1-877-936-5700 - but this number apparently
has nothing to do with Microsoft. Am I setting the bar too high?

I phoned 800-936-5700 to talk with MS customer service, they listened and
connected me with tech support (all in India) but the line went dead after
they came back on. Frustrating.

 

[macropod]

Hi 2-fingertyper,

With fonts and vector graphics, there is no resolution, per se, since the objects are reconstructed via the essentially same
mathematical formulae with which they were created.

Bitmaps (eg jpg, png images) are another matter. I've just done some testing and it the data within the PDF suggests the size of the
original graphic that was inserted into the Word document comes through. Presumably that's used for scaling purposes. However, a
*close* visual examination of a jpg image that I'd embedded reveals that Word's jpg compression has resulted in more compression
artifacts being apparent than were evident in the original image.

 

[Yves Dhondt]

I haven't done much testing with images, but I would suspect that it is the
actual size rather than the original size that is important. You can see
this when saving a document containing one of the new equations as PDF. The
equation gets converted to an image which looks nice on an A4 sheet, but as
soon as you start zooming the PDF, the quality looks horrible. If you change
the font size from something normal (11) to something large (+36) the
resulting PDF will have a much nicer looking image of the equation.

Yves

Hi 2-fingertyper,

With fonts and vector graphics, there is no resolution, per se, since the
objects are reconstructed via the essentially same mathematical formulae
with which they were created.

Bitmaps (eg jpg, png images) are another matter. I've just done some
testing and it the data within the PDF suggests the size of the original
graphic that was inserted into the Word document comes through. Presumably
that's used for scaling purposes. However, a *close* visual examination of
a jpg image that I'd embedded reveals that Word's jpg compression has
resulted in more compression artifacts being apparent than were evident in
the original image.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]

No one at Microsoft seems to know what DPI (dots per inch) resolution
their
built-in WORD 2007 PDF converted uses - of if there is a user interface
to
select DPI. How do I find-out?

I use Offcie 2003 and am considering an upgrade to 2007 for their PDF
converter feature - but need more information than they provide on-line.

Also, the Microsoft Support page says click some button to find a
Microsoft
store "here you" (sic) - presumably they mean "near you". Yikes. They
list a
1-877 "my store" to call to order MS products. Give the number in
numbers! I
translate 1-877 "my store" to: 1-877-936-5700 - but this number
apparently
has nothing to do with Microsoft. Am I setting the bar too high?

I phoned 800-936-5700 to talk with MS customer service, they listened and
connected me with tech support (all in India) but the line went dead
after
they came back on. Frustrating.

 

[Twayne]

Hi,

The major issue is that screen-wise (which is what you see when you look at
anything on your screen) is measured in pixels-per-inch where a pixel is one
dot on your screen.
Every computer program/screen could have its own dpi (dots per inch,
which is what your printer uses) setting. e.g. changing the screen
resolution, say, will change the size of the onscreen picture, but NOT the
printed picture. But resizing a picture definitely changes its printed
size, even though you can still make it display at the same previous size
onscreen. That's pixels 101 for today<g>.

The best way to accomplish what you want is to not change any screen or
output settings while you work, which is normally no problem; people just
don't do that as a rule.

Set Word so both rulers are ON, and so they display INCHES (or cm, whatever
you normally use). Now, IF your images were done at 600 dpi settings, which
is controllable, and your PRINTER is a 600 dpi printer, the size you see on
the screen is what you'll see on the printer.
Page Preview in Word uses the currently installed printer drives to show
you the Page Preview. So, you can make sure the printer you want to print on
is set as default, and use Page Preview to judge how they'll look without
printing anything. A different printer driver WILL NOT necessarily print
the same size pictures.

So, set the intended printer as the default, turn on horizontan and vertical
rulers, and set the units to be inches. Insert a picture you want to use.
Once it looks good to you in Print Layout, try Page Preview and see how it
looks there. IF it's good, do a print or two to convince yourself that you
know how it will come out. Depending on the dpi setting of the printer drive
and the dpi capabilities of your printer, you may or many not get what you
need.

With printed pictures, it's more often a case of the picture being too big
for what you want than too small. If it's too big you can either use an
image editor to change its size, or just grab the corners and drage them in
until it fits. That can waste quite a bit of space because you might be
squeezing 100,000 pixels doen to a space where it's only 10,000 pixels, but
it'll usually work OK as long as you don't mind the extra file size and the
time it takes your PC to manipulate it.

Making an image larger is often a failure because as it grows in size, the
computer has to start guessing at what to do with the extra areas where
there aren't any colors. You might get jagged edges, squares all over the
image, etc.. So those may have to be displayed at smaller than nominal size.

I hope that helps a little at least and doesn't confuse more than it helps.
If it's just confusing and no help, let me know and I'll provide a few links
to read on the subject. It's not complicated, it's just "different" than the
way most people think.

HTH,

Twayne





In

 

[Twayne]

May I just add that, when working with images, try NEVER to have to save to
a .jpg file more than once. Nominally, when possile: The image should be:
1. First, resized to the needed print size
2. If a jpeg or jpg, saved a MINIMUM number of times. Even saving with jpg
compression set to 0 or 1, whichever the program provides, will still result
in more jpeg artifacts and further loss of quality. For that reason it's
best to do the work in your image editor's native format or, if there is
none, bitmap (.bmp) or anything known as lossless. Ping (.png) is often a
good choice. If transparent areas are needed, then you need .png or .gif
images.
3. About the max compression you can do on a jpeg without getting
substantial data loss if 40%. If the images are from a camera that outputs
..jpg, immediately save the images to a lossless format to work on them.
4. For best results, If possible, the image's internal dpi should match the
intended printer's dpi output. You have a lot more latitude with this one
though. 200 dpi will often print OK on a printer set at 600 dpi, but any
smaller than 200 and quality degradation will become VERY noticeable. Most
image editors can adjust an images internal dpi to higher numbers. I find
that 300 works well for quality output unless it's going to be done on
glossy paper.

Every time a jpeg image is saved, more data is lost, meaning it loses
Quality.

HTH,

Twayne





In

 

[macropod]

Hi Twayne,

I doubt any of this affects the changes Word makes to embedded images. For starters, you have no control over the dpi settings Word
2007 uses when saving a document in PDF format using Word's own PDF/XPS format converter.