Drawing in Word 2002

[John Leeke]

What is the difference between:

- drawing in the canvas
- drawing in a plain frame
- drawing in Insert | Object | Microsoft Drawing 1.01
- drawing in Insert | Object | Microsoft Word Picture

Which would be more suitable for detailed technical drawings in a large
document (50-100 pages, 40-60 drawings.

Thanks for your help.

John

 

[PJ Lightning]

Depends how detailed. Many will tell you to use publisher
or something similar for the drawings. However I regularly
deal with very complex graphics in word (2002) regularly
and it can be done but there are a few bugs that can cause
problems (mainly to do with textboxes). I use files
imported from AutoCad (as r12 dxfs) and from a mini GIS
(as metafiles) and sometimes combine them with tiffs or
jpgs as well. Are you planning to import and edit in word,
or to link to the file and edit it in its original
software? I can help with first but not with the second,.
Joan

 

[John Leeke]

jpgs as well. Are you planning to import and edit in word,

or to link to the file and edit it in its original
software? I can help with first but not with the second,.
Joan

Developing the drawings and editing within Word is the most convenient
because these documents are edited and republished frequently. Typically,
I'm linking to photos (jpg) and artwork (gif) files and then adding lines,
callouts, areas of color etc. in Word. These edits often need to be revised,
so that is easier to do in Word, rather than PhotoShopLite, which is what I
use to edit the photos and artwork.

However, I
sometimes see recommendations here and elsewhere that a lot of drawings in
long Word documents can lead to
troubles with large documents.

You can see the type of illustration in this sample document:

http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/reports/temp.PDF

Thanks for your help.

John

 

[PJ Lightning]

Hi John.
Yes large files can be a problem. We get around it by
having each figure in a seperate file and combining them
with the document after printing or by creating a word
master document which combines them. My most complex
figures (typically including two tiffs or jpgs (one
colour) and a metafile map of a few town streets, with
relevent text boxes and added coloured blobs can be 2 or 3
megabytes. But I have had much larger in the past. However
I successfully produce figures often containg several
hundred drawing objects and text boxes which aren't as big
as that. I can't get on your website at the moment; I
think our network security is blocking it but if you like
I can email a smaller example of the type of figures I
produce. The biggest problem is the textbox bug, as the
files get more complex you reach a point where the next
text box causes problems and is almost immediately
followed by a crash. There are ways around it but make
sure you save regularly.
If importing a tiff\jpg set it to float over text. you can
now draw anything over it and when done they can be
grouped together and you can set text to wrap around. Try
to limit the use of transparent colours or complex shading
if the file is getting large as these will contribute to
instability.
Good luck
Joan

 

[PJ Lightning]

I've just looked at your temp.pdf, I don't think you'll
have too much trouble with illustrations like that. You
may be able to put them all in one file with the text or,
if it does start to get too big that way, divide it up
into a few chapters per file.Let me know how it goes.

Joan

 

[Chuzhakin]

Solution for large drawings. The application allows to take small
rectanlges from the DXF DWG HPGL drawing and copy/paste them to Word as
EMF or BMP trhough clipboard.
http://www.cadsofttools.com/?PageName=ABViewer
Evgeny