How to 'convert' photos saved in .doc format?

[Tricia_H]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel My first post here - please be patient. I'm helping a friend who has just converted from her PC to a shiny new iMac and I've struck a problem that I don't know how to resolve. On her PC she saved many (hundreds) of photos in .doc format (don't ask)! She thought that was how to do it. She's adamant that she needs to keep all these images.

I've never faced the problem before and don't seem to be able to find any way of converting the .doc formatted pictures to e.g. .jpeg format so that they can be named and saved in her 'Pictures' folder.

Is there something very simple that I'm missing here?

I should add that some of these 'docs' contain perhaps 5 or 6 photos on an A4 page. None of them has any identifying photo data - in fact, I believe that many have been scanned from old photos.

I would be grateful for any suggestions or, even better, if someone has already encountered such a problem and knows exactly how to solve it

Cheers
Tricia

 

[John McGhie]

In Word 2008, it IS simple, but it requires some ingenuity.

If you save the documents in the XML document format, all the pictures will
be saved to a subfolder in their native format.

A .docx file is actually just a Zip file that contains a structure similar
to a website. To get the pictures out:

1) Make CERTAIN that all the latest updates have been aplied: OS X needs to
be at 10.6.2 and Word needs to be at 12.2.3 or things get pretty ugly.

2) Open the .doc and Save As .docx to a new file name. Keep the original
very safe: you're going to need it, and after this process, you will not be
able to open the .docx.

3) Quit Word (to make it let the file go) then change the extension to .zip
from .docx

4) Use Finder to open the Zip using the BOM Archive Utility (or whatever)

5) You will find a subfolder in there containing all the pictures (usually,
two copies of each, one in native format, the other in re-sized format).

6) The file names are all machine-generated. Generally, they will be in
the order that they appear in the document.

7) Re-open the .doc version and run through assigning descriptive file
names to each picture.

8) Throw the Zip file away when you have finished: once you have unzipped
it on the Mac, the Finder corrupts it so Word can't read it.

Cheers

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
My first post here - please be patient. I'm helping a friend who has just
converted from her PC to a shiny new iMac and I've struck a problem that I
don't know how to resolve. On her PC she saved many (hundreds) of photos in
.doc format (don't ask)! She thought that was how to do it. She's adamant
that she needs to keep all these images.

I've never faced the problem before and don't seem to be able to find any way
of converting the .doc formatted pictures to e.g. .jpeg format so that they
can be named and saved in her 'Pictures' folder.

Is there something very simple that I'm missing here?

I should add that some of these 'docs' contain perhaps 5 or 6 photos on an A4
page. None of them has any identifying photo data - in fact, I believe that
many have been scanned from old photos.

I would be grateful for any suggestions or, even better, if someone has
already encountered such a problem and knows exactly how to solve it

Cheers
Tricia

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[AlanMac]

One option (AOK if the image is for screen purposes only imho) is to use Snagit for MAC (Beta just released). You can then capture each photo and save in whatever format you wish. It will take time if there are loads of photos but at least you still have them available.

Snagit for Mac Beta is a free download and since using the PC version for years it was a relief to finally have it on the Mac. You can get it here - www.techsmith/snagitmac/

 

[Rob Schneider]

Along the same lines, use OS X's built in capability to take screen
shots (to a PNG file which can be converted or to the clipboard).

See http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/secretcapture.html. As purported
here, the keys are not really "secret" as they are documented in a lot
of places.


--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[Tricia_H]

Many thanks John, AlanMac and Rob for your prompt responses to my query. I shall post back (after next weekend, which will be my first opportunity to get back to my friend's place) and let you know whether I had any success.

Cheers
Tricia

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

One option (AOK if the image is for screen purposes only imho) is to
use Snagit for MAC (Beta just released).

Better yet, simply use File Juicer.
The application can extract the media from a number of fimle formats,
including Office files.

Corentin

 

[Tricia_H]

John, I had a chance to try your recommendation today. I now realise that I had not explained what I wanted to do very clearly. First, let me thank you for your solution, which worked. Once the .docx file was converted to .zip and unzipped with the Archive Utility I had the option to save in various image file formats. I chose JPEG and tested a couple which I was able to import into iPhoto.

The further problem I've encountered is that there is no way (at least I couldn't find a way) of selecting and 'splitting' the images where more than one image was saved as a single .doc file.

Ideally, what my friend would like to be able to do is to store her images as individual JPEGs in her Pictures folder and also in iPhoto. However, the way I've handled it, I get the scanned images on the background sheet of white paper and don't seem to be able to find any way of 'cropping' these images or saving each image individually.

If you have a solution for this dilemma I would be grateful.

I've also noticed that Corentin has suggested File Juicer - perhaps that may do the trick.

Cheers
Tricia

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Tricia:

You have misunderstood me: once you unzip the docx, you will find it turns
into a folder, which contains several folders and sub-folders.

One of those folders contains all of the pictures in the document, each
saved as a separate file, it its native format. Usually, you will find that
one of the folders is named "Word". Inside the "Word" folder there is a
"Media" folder. All your pictures are in there: sometimes twice, once in
native format, and once in a converted format.

A .docx is just a little "website", and all the images are in its "Media"
folder.

You don't have to "save" anything: iPhoto will open them right up for you.
But you will have to re-name each one.

Hope this helps

John, I had a chance to try your recommendation today. I now realise that I
had not explained what I wanted to do very clearly. First, let me thank you
for your solution, which worked. Once the .docx file was converted to .zip
and unzipped with the Archive Utility I had the option to save in various
image file formats. I chose JPEG and tested a couple which I was able to
import into iPhoto.

The further problem I've encountered is that there is no way (at least I
couldn't find a way) of selecting and 'splitting' the images where more than
one image was saved as a single .doc file.

Ideally, what my friend would like to be able to do is to store her images as
individual JPEGs in her Pictures folder and also in iPhoto. However, the way
I've handled it, I get the scanned images on the background sheet of white
paper and don't seem to be able to find any way of 'cropping' these images or
saving each image individually.

If you have a solution for this dilemma I would be grateful.

I've also noticed that Corentin has suggested File Juicer - perhaps that may
do the trick.

Cheers
Tricia

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I get the scanned images on the background sheet of white paper and
don't seem to be able to find any way of 'cropping' these images or
saving each image individually.

Any image editor can do that.
Even Preview: open the image there, crop to the selection you want and
perform a Save As.
Repeat until all the photos are "saved as".

Corentin