Any method to add owner data to graphics?

[Ed]

We are concerned that a photo or other graphic can be lifted from a report
and passed around via email or other documents until it's lost all
connection with the original information. Is it possible to add identifying
data to a photo or other graphic: "This photo shows what happens when the
new and improved widget is used in this manner. Photo taken by Ed on 23 Jan
07." in such a way that it's not intrusive or visible, and will stay with
the graphic even when saved or copied out of the original document?

Ed

 

[Keith Howell]

If you add anything with WORD it will be able to be disassembled. For your
photos you can add text with a level of transparency using graphics software
and then save them out so that your text is truly part of the photo. If you
have created a graphic in WORD then you could add transparent text using
WordArt text and setting colour to lightest grey and transparency to say 40%.
Save your graphic out as a jpeg then re-import it as a picture. A tortuous
route but it should work.

Take a look at the Health & Safety cartooons in the Art Gallery in
www.drawingwithword.com - I was not overly happy with the final jpeg but
there are many products out there to enable you to save WORD stuff as a jpeg
that may give a better finish.

Hope this helps

 

[Ed]

Hi, Keith. Thanks for the reply, and I think your drawings are great! I'm
sorry I wasn't real clear in my post - I was actually thinking more along
the lines of some type of "metadata", or perhaps something "hidden" that
could be brought out by a macro or such. Most of these graphics will
probably be JPGs, although we could see BMPs and TIFFs. Word is simply the
document wrapper containing the graphics.

Ed

 

[Keith Howell]

You could perhaps add a text box to the picture with no line, no fill and
white text
If that were dragged over some other colour you would see the text but as I
mentioned before, once it is discovered it is easy to disassemble. Perhaps
someone else can come up with a better solution

 

[Ed]

Hi Ed,

Another (but still not secure) approach, if you have PowerPoint, might be to
get your image into PowerPoint and add a text box containing the "metadata".
Select the image and the textbox and copy to the clipboard. In Word, choose
Edit/Paste special and paste the combination using one of the picture
formats. Finally crop the pasted picture to hide the textbox.

Later, if the picture turns up somewhere you could bung it into Word and
uncrop it to reveal the "metadata".

Of course, others could uncrop it as well and even ungroup the image and
delete the textbox.

Cheers.

(Another) Ed

 

[Ed]

Hi again Ed,

In my too hasty previous post I suggested that PowerPoint might be required.
I don't think it is: I think you can do the same process just with Word. When
I first tried it I couldn't select both the original image and a textbox but
I think that was just because the image was formatted as in line with text.

Long day!

Cheers.

Ed