Word images-exactly what format are they?

[Chris Ridd]

Hi
i am working on some files created on mac (images placed by drag and
drop/resized to suit), they are then edited on pc. most of the problematic
images are screenshots optimised in photoshop to print res.

what format does word use?

I'd *expect* something like BMP, which is uncompressed image data.

or is the original unchanged just embeds the
image somehow

Word can do that too, and it would certainly make your .doc files a lot
smaller if you could replace your images with references to image files
- the downside is your document is now multiple files and it is harder
to email etc.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hi
i am working on some files created on mac (images placed by drag and
drop/resized to suit), they are then edited on pc. most of the problematic
images are screenshots optimised in photoshop to print res.

That's where your problems start, and they will go downhill from there.
PCs won't do jpg and Macs won't do WMF or too many of the other
braindamaged proprietary formats beloved of Microsoft. So Mac Word
tries to do the best it can and remember the image in as many formats
as possible.

what format does word use? or is the original unchanged just embeds the
image somehow

it appears to be complacated as the files are used for print then repurposed
for cd.

Yep, you are getting the idea. It is bedlam in there.

size optimization is getting critical, the only option at this stage is to
pdf the files. some word files are 5mb/pdf 1mb at screen res.

i can flightcheck the files on the mac to see what the problem images are,
but they are nested images retaining the photoshop dpi and the word scaling?

probably. Once Word gets its claws on an image, you can bet it will
'optimize for maximum size and minimum quality. Where possible, *never*
manipulate an image within Word. Get its size and resolution absolutely
perfect in some other application, then either insert image from file
or linking to the image you maintain externally. (See what Chris said,
I'm not sure how to guarantee that.)

the olny suggestion thus far is:
extracting the png's using the "save as web page" option and;
defining the screen pixel width/dpi, then
relinking those images

Gaack!!! No!! Get the originals and work with them. Word will have
already screwed them over bigtime.

word version is 2001 mac/98 xp (converted using maclinks engine)

i hope this makes sense to someone out there word is becoming the bane of my
life, any thing to bring them down a bit would be appreciated and scripting
to save on my labour for the client
cheers ab

The sad fact is that is the bane of everybody's life. Word is not a
suitable program for placing images in documents for all but the most
ironic meanings of 'placing'.

 

[mac operator]

thanks for the replies guys.

atm i hvae 2.2gb source files to fit onto 700mb cd. dvd isn't an option at
the momnet, just cos it's for shcools.

i'll keep trying one last time as the wmf route, replacing the links on a
pc. i hadn't thought of that. that is a vectorish format i think.

just doing pdfs for the big-uns.
B

 

[mac operator]

Hi
i am working on some files created on mac (images placed by drag and
drop/resized to suit), they are then edited on pc. most of the problematic
images are screenshots optimised in photoshop to print res.

what format does word use? or is the original unchanged just embeds the
image somehow

it appears to be complacated as the files are used for print then repurposed
for cd.

size optimization is getting critical, the only option at this stage is to
pdf the files. some word files are 5mb/pdf 1mb at screen res.

i can flightcheck the files on the mac to see what the problem images are,
but they are nested images retaining the photoshop dpi and the word scaling?

the olny suggestion thus far is:
extracting the png's using the "save as web page" option and;
defining the screen pixel width/dpi, then
relinking those images

word version is 2001 mac/98 xp (converted using maclinks engine)

i hope this makes sense to someone out there word is becoming the bane of my
life, any thing to bring them down a bit would be appreciated and scripting
to save on my labour for the client
cheers ab

 

[mac operator]

Hi
i am working on some files created on word (v 2001 mac). some files use the
symbol font is it possible to convert them to the pc character map using any
tools or would it need to be scripted?
ie Macintosh opt character set remap to pc Unicode character/glyph

i hope this makes sense to someone out there word is becoming the bane of my
life, any thing to bring them down a bit would be appreciated and scripting
to save on my labour for the client
cheers ab

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

What you say makes perfect sense (well, sort of... I understand it).

But the answer is "No".

Mac Word 2004 was the first version of Word on the Mac to fully support
Unicode, and thus it's the first version on which you can express Symbol
characters in Unicode so they will work just the same on the PC.

Cheers

Hi
i am working on some files created on word (v 2001 mac). some files use the
symbol font is it possible to convert them to the pc character map using any
tools or would it need to be scripted?
ie Macintosh opt character set remap to pc Unicode character/glyph

i hope this makes sense to someone out there word is becoming the bane of my
life, any thing to bring them down a bit would be appreciated and scripting
to save on my labour for the client
cheers ab

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Wilfried Hennings]

thanks for the replies guys.

atm i hvae 2.2gb source files to fit onto 700mb cd. dvd isn't an option at
the momnet, just cos it's for shcools.

i'll keep trying one last time as the wmf route, replacing the links on a
pc. i hadn't thought of that. that is a vectorish format i think.

As you wrote most of the images were screenshots, wmf wouldn't help you,
as screenshots are bitmaps and not vector drawings.
Btw the internal format used by Word (PC) to store images (bitmaps) is
png, so the word files should not be much bigger than the sum of the png
files' sizes on the disk.

On the PC side, try the following:
Select the images one at a time (or, if the document does not contain
any field functions you would like to retain, select the whole document)
and press Ctrl+F9. This replaces field functions with their (displayed)
results and also replaces embedded objects with their results.
If you now save the document, does it result in a smaller file size?
You won't lose any resolution by this method, only the (questionable)
possibility to edit the embedded images as photoshop objects.


--
email me: change "nospam" to "w.hennings"
Wilfried Hennings c./o.
Forschungszentrum (Research Center) Juelich GmbH, MUT
<http://www.fz-juelich.de/mut/mut_home>
All opinions mentioned are strictly my own, not my employer's.