HELP! File size balloons on Mac Word docs when opened on PC!

[dromanell]

I've created a 2-page document in Word (v. 11.2.0 for Mac), placing two
different graphic files as the header and footer on both page 1 and 2.
These images are saved as hi-res RGB .jpegs, and measure a standard
page size of 8.5x11 for each, since elements in the design span the
length of the page. I have a text box linked from page 1 to 2, and a
few text styles for the copy. That's pretty much it.

I save the document to my hard drive and the file size comes in at
around 2.3 MB. When I e-mail it, or place it on my company server for a
PC user, they can merely open it without changing any content at all,
save it to their hard drive or back to the server, and the file size
will balloon to 26 MB!

I've created these so PC users can customize them and share with
clients (who in turn may change copy as well), but with the file size
enlarged to that proportion, it's no longer feasible to e-mail.

Do I need to change the format of the graphics in the headers/footers,
save them from Photoshop as "optimized" JPEGs or GIFs, or is there a
setting in Mac Word itself that will compress the images without
decompressing them on a PC?

Help!!!

 

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

The "correct" answer to this is "Use a vector graphic for this kind of use."

When Word opens a document with a "foreign" raster graphic in it, it
converts the raster to a native version, and stores the copy in the document
as a .bmp bitmap. These are huge.

Use .AI or .EPS: it's a lot smaller and the PC will display it and use it
natively.

Note: You must use the RGB colour space and not above 24 bits colour, or PC
Office won't handle it.

If you absolutely *can't* use a vector format, use .PNG in preference to
JPEG. .PNG is a native format to PC Word, JPEG is not. So PNG will not be
expanded for display, JPEG will.

Hope this helps

I've created a 2-page document in Word (v. 11.2.0 for Mac), placing two
different graphic files as the header and footer on both page 1 and 2.
These images are saved as hi-res RGB .jpegs, and measure a standard
page size of 8.5x11 for each, since elements in the design span the
length of the page. I have a text box linked from page 1 to 2, and a
few text styles for the copy. That's pretty much it.

I save the document to my hard drive and the file size comes in at
around 2.3 MB. When I e-mail it, or place it on my company server for a
PC user, they can merely open it without changing any content at all,
save it to their hard drive or back to the server, and the file size
will balloon to 26 MB!

I've created these so PC users can customize them and share with
clients (who in turn may change copy as well), but with the file size
enlarged to that proportion, it's no longer feasible to e-mail.

Do I need to change the format of the graphics in the headers/footers,
save them from Photoshop as "optimized" JPEGs or GIFs, or is there a
setting in Mac Word itself that will compress the images without
decompressing them on a PC?

Help!!!

--

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

 

[dromanell]

Tried your advice and saved the image files as Photoshop .eps (as well
as .png) on my Mac. I placed them into my documents as headers/footers.
I put them on our company server and opened them on a PC.

The original 2 MB document on my Mac with the placed .png images
ballooned to 26 MB in size when saved on a PC.

The document with the .eps images gave the error message "A Quicktime
and jpeg compressor are needed to see this picture" when opened on a
PC. Once saved (without being able to see the graphic in the
background) it came in at 1.1 MB. A manageable size, but hardly useful
since the PC user could not see/edit text boxes where white type was
placed over a dark background in the image. I tried saving an .eps
without the .jpg compression in Photoshop, which created a huge file
when placed. Word couldn't even open that on a PC.

I contacted Microsoft "Word for Mac" tech support and they suggested I
Control-click and save the graphics within the document as separate
images (.png, .pct, etc.), delete those in the doc, then insert the
saved images back in. That reduced the file size, but the quality of
the print was very low, and therefore useless.

I have not yet found a solution to this problem, so if anyone has any
advice please post here or e-mail me directly: (e-mail address removed)

Thank you.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Tried your advice and saved the image files as Photoshop .eps (as well
as .png) on my Mac. I placed them into my documents as headers/footers.
I put them on our company server and opened them on a PC.

The original 2 MB document on my Mac with the placed .png images
ballooned to 26 MB in size when saved on a PC.

The document with the .eps images gave the error message "A Quicktime
and jpeg compressor are needed to see this picture" when opened on a
PC. Once saved (without being able to see the graphic in the
background) it came in at 1.1 MB. A manageable size, but hardly useful
since the PC user could not see/edit text boxes where white type was
placed over a dark background in the image. I tried saving an .eps
without the .jpg compression in Photoshop, which created a huge file
when placed. Word couldn't even open that on a PC.

I contacted Microsoft "Word for Mac" tech support and they suggested I
Control-click and save the graphics within the document as separate
images (.png, .pct, etc.), delete those in the doc, then insert the
saved images back in. That reduced the file size, but the quality of
the print was very low, and therefore useless.

I have not yet found a solution to this problem, so if anyone has any
advice please post here or e-mail me directly: (e-mail address removed)

As you have discovered, Word's handlling of graphics is pretty
hopeless, and cross-platform multiplies the odds of it working.

What you seem to be attempting to do appears to be pretty stupid. A
whole page raster image behind every page is something to be avoided in
any program that wants to emit an e-mail-able document, let alone one
whose graphics capability is as idiosyncratic as Word's.

I guess you have your reasons, so let's see what can be done.
You have ignored John's vector art advice, so I guess that's not an
option. There was no point hiding the raster picture inside an eps. It
is still a raster picture, which the PC barfed at for lack of Quicktime
JPEG decompressor, more or less like John said it would. What he meant
was to re-do the art in Illustrator or Freehand as vector drawings. If
you can do that it works really really well - beautiful smooth art at
any scale. (as long as you don't print to PDF from Word). I cheapskated
on printed stationery for years and years with .eps art for letterhead
and follow ons and even for envelopes. I had them lurking in first and
subsequent headers in templates just like you are contemplating.
But if that is a no-no, read on.

What works for me is TIFF. Make sure there is no alpha channel
(transparency) which there won't be because you started with JPEG.

Using an image editor outside Word (I recommend GraphicConverter $35
shareware - possibly the best way you can spend $35 on toys for your
Macintosh) convert the file to TIFF and make your image exactly the
size it will appear on the page, and make sure the resolution is no
more than 300 dpi because Word will compress anything greater with
disastrous results. Place the image into Mac Word any way you like
(insert picture from file would be a good starting point) and then
resist the temptation to re-size it. If you feel the urge to drag a
corner, even a tiny bit, stop right there, have a cup of coffee and go
back to GraphicConverter to get the picture exactly the right size.

See if that makes it to the PC without ballooning out of control.
In my experience, it is the re-sizing of pictures inside Word that
breaks everything. People send me Word Docs for tarting up for
publication, with lovingly scanned pictures reduced to mush by PC Word
or Mac Word or both. I cry and cry, then ask them for the original
pictures. It is easier to scan them again than tell the originator how
to place raster art in Word without wrecking it, because no two authors
wreck it in the same way.

One day I will try .png again in that role, but so far all .PNGs do for
me is slow my Mac down to a crawl. (Can you tell how much I hate
Macromedia Fireworks?)

 

[dromanell]

I prefer a native Adobe Illustrator .ai or .eps file for vector art,
logos, clip art, etc, but the image I need to place contains elements
of continuous tone photography, and thus, cannot be a squinky cool
portable .eps from the Adobe illustration gods. So, we try everything
from .tif to .png, to "saved for web" .gif and .jpg. Nope. Nada. Zippo.
Same results: balloon-o-file.

A .tif file at exactly 100% to document size and below 300dpi
(converted as you suggest) gives the same results: balloon-o-file.

I don't scale up or down in Word at all. I don't even look at it
cross-eyed. And I try not to cry at my computer if I can help it.
That's a sure path to middle-management promotion.

Thanks, anyhow.

 

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

Yeah, well I think we can save you from middle management promotion for now:
it's necessary to be totally useless to take that fatal step

However, you're between a rock and a hard place...

A full-page continuous tone raster graphic is 24 MB, as you have now
discovered. No emailing...

You can reduce the colour depth or the raster resolution. Those are the
only parameters you have to play with. Whatever you do, Word is going to
uncompress the graphic so that it can display it, then save the uncompressed
version in the document.

You might be able to save the photos as JPEG and the line art as EPS (Word
on the PC won't handle .AI unless you use the EPS version, and even then
it's flaky... Make sure you hold the colour depth to 24 bits or below, and
RGB format please, no alpha channels in Microsoft Office yet.

If you chop the thing into pieces and place the pieces in a Word drawing to
preserve their spatial relationships, you may get away with it. Word will
then be able to store each kind of graphic in its native format for best
compression.

Your real problem is you're using 24 bits per pixel for all that white space


However, if you need continuous tone across the whole page, you're outta
luck. This is a job for PDF. Sorry!

Cheers

I prefer a native Adobe Illustrator .ai or .eps file for vector art,
logos, clip art, etc, but the image I need to place contains elements
of continuous tone photography, and thus, cannot be a squinky cool
portable .eps from the Adobe illustration gods. So, we try everything
from .tif to .png, to "saved for web" .gif and .jpg. Nope. Nada. Zippo.
Same results: balloon-o-file.

A .tif file at exactly 100% to document size and below 300dpi
(converted as you suggest) gives the same results: balloon-o-file.

I don't scale up or down in Word at all. I don't even look at it
cross-eyed. And I try not to cry at my computer if I can help it.
That's a sure path to middle-management promotion.

Thanks, anyhow.

--

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