G'day "Maja Roberts" <
[email protected]>,
An excerpt from my Word Spellbook. There's heaps more in there but
here's a start
Avoiding bloat and other problems
Use GIF (no transparencies which cause an on screen blur) or JPG
wherever possible.
Use linked inline graphics wherever possible.
Any zoom + picture size combination that doesn't result in 100%
involves scaling and thus a potential blurry on screen.
I'll re-iterate what I know, and I know that therein that smallish
scope lies an answer to "Why is my word document so BIG after whacking
in a graphic?" So:
n Word does not understand any graphic except.wmf, .emf (wmf's
bigger cousin) and .bmp;
n Word imports SOME OTHER graphic formats. When it does so, it must
have TWO copies of the graphic. One as the original .whatever file.
One as an internal-use only bitmap that word can use to display a
representation of the inserted graphic. See Q224663 on the MS
Knowledge Base. The safest ones to use are PNG , GIF, and JPG. PNG and
GIF are good for low color shots like screen captures, JPG is better
for full natural color pictures;
n When you crop or otherwise adjust a picture using word's built-in
controls, it needs at least two copies (both of which CAN be satisfied
by point 2 above) - an original and a display copy;
n BMP is the most inefficient way of storing a picture;
n Linked pictures should not be stored with the document, but this
rule is subordinate to 3);
n Embedding pictures can cause total nightmares extracting the
picture for export to a decent package to change it. File > Save As >
HTML brings some joy. This nicely dumps all graphics into the created
directory (the directory has the same name as the filename your
provide) for referencing by the HTML of the filename you provided.
Ignore the other stuff, just grab your picture files and RUN! It is
not often Word gives you a freebie; and
n Linking pictures enables a source identifier with the picture
object - useful for control and developmental labeling purposes. This
source is the linked filename.
My personal solution:
n Always use linked pictures, of type .jpg (full-color photo-like
stuff, usually 79% compression) and .PNG (screenshots using the high
contrast theme) and perform NO graphic adjustments to the picture
inside of Word - excepting scale;
n Always use a relative path link, and either store the graphics in
the same root as their host document, or in a subfolder directly
underneath same;
n Use a controlled naming prefix schema to identify picture
categories;
n Use my KillMetaData tool to embed the suckers for distribution
copies only or use Edit > Links, select all graphics and select Break
Link;
n Use Save as HTML page when people send embedded graphics to
separate them out;
n I also have a simple macro to list the filenames of the linked
pictures in Reporter; and
n For logos and other boilerplate graphic elements, it is best to
have the template have an Autotext entry that gets inserted - where
the Autotext entry is an embedded graphic. For the small amount of
space saving it simply isn't worth having every single document
accompanied by trivial graphic files. This way documents can be safely
sent external to the company without having to worry about whether the
logo and other standard matter is attached. Network locations are also
a bad idea, as it delays the document open and updates.
Steve Hudson - Word Heretic
Want a hyperlinked index? S/W R&D? See WordHeretic.com
steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)
Maja Roberts reckoned:
