Word 2002/XP Pro SP2 picture compression

[HughB]

Word 2002 has a "feature" to automatically compress embedded or linked
pictures. Unfortunately the algorithm used produces soft focus results.
There is a dialogue to suppress compression ( r-click picture/Format
picture/Compress/Options) but, having removed the tick from compression, Word
seems to ignore the new setting and reverts to the default (compress the
picture).
a. Is there a fix or work-around?
b. Has this been fixed in Word 2003?
Thanks,
Hugh

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Hugh,

Generally, the setting that shows 'compress pictures'
is only active when you bring up that dialog and
run the compression.

Word compresses graphics (disk storage size) and
opens them for viewing when the document is opened,
but it's not re-rendering the graphics based on the
'compression' setting just from inserting a graphic
or a link to a graphic or from saving the file
in .doc format.

The 'soft focus' edging starting with Word 2002 is
less than in earlier versions of Word due in part to the
use of the GDI+ engine rather than the older GDI engine.
It was sort of Words 'poorman' version of graphic antialiasing.
There are some improvements in the Compression feature
(owned by the Powerpoint dev team <g>) in Word 2003 over
the one in Word 2002 but not really 'new'.

=======Word 2002 has a "feature" to automatically compress embedded or linked
pictures. Unfortunately the algorithm used produces soft focus results.
There is a dialogue to suppress compression ( r-click picture/Format
picture/Compress/Options) but, having removed the tick from compression, Word
seems to ignore the new setting and reverts to the default (compress the
picture).
a. Is there a fix or work-around?
b. Has this been fixed in Word 2003?
Thanks,
Hugh<<
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 Editions explained
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx

 

[HughB]

Bob,
Thanks for your reply. There seem to be 3 aspects to this feature.
1) There seems to be very little difference between printing the .jpg image
from Word 2002 and from other programs such as Photoshop at 300 dpi, which is
great, and I have no problem with that. However at greater resulution,
Photoshop and other products win hands down. This did not appear to be the
case in Word 2000.
2) There is a great deal of difference between the rendering of the image on
the screen in Word 2002 and other products. Word 2003 is very soft focus
compared with Photoshop, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and a few other
products. Word 2000 did not appear to suffer from this degradation.
3) The dialog provided in Word 2002 (Format picture/picture/compress) does
not appear to retain the values selected, but reverts to the defaults. e.g.
If I select "No Change" (resolution) and/or untick "Compress pictures", exit
the dialog and then return to the dialog, the options have reverted to "Print
- 200dpi" and "Compress pictures". Why is this? It appears that I cannot
override Word 2003's default and print pictures at greater than 200 dpi.
Selecting these settings also appears to have no effect, which is evident
when I link or imbed a high resolution picture (say 600dpi). What am I doing
wrong?

Word 2003 appears to suffer from exactly the same symptoms.
Regards,
Hugh

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Hugh,

It's not too surprising that a graphic app printing
only a graphic may be a bit clearer in rendering than
a complete page in Word but
the 200 dpi print choice is not applied automatically
by Word. The dialog box is somewhat misleading.
It can also be a factor of the printer type and its
property settings when running from Word or the
graphic file type used.

Pixel packing (pixels per inch) may change if the
graphic is resized in Word rather than created in its
output size before using Insert=>Picture from file as
a linked item and if Word is relying on the setting in
Tools=>options=>general=>Web Options for packing if
the graphic if that value is not stored in the graphic
(you can check the stored resolution of a disk graphic
in a program such as http://www.irfanview.com)
and Office has pretty much always done a bit of antialiasing
to picture edges (although generally more before Word 2002).

Printing a 96 ppi or 300 ppi graphic at a 600ppi graphic
setting in Word won't necessarily render the graphic as such
but I guess I'd need a specific graphic (email or link to
a web page) and information on the printer to see if there
is anything more specific.

========
Bob,
Thanks for your reply. There seem to be 3 aspects to this feature.

1) There seems to be very little difference between printing the .jpg image
from Word 2002 and from other programs such as Photoshop at 300 dpi, which is
great, and I have no problem with that. However at greater resulution,
Photoshop and other products win hands down. This did not appear to be the
case in Word 2000.

2) There is a great deal of difference between the rendering of the image on
the screen in Word 2002 and other products. Word 2003 is very soft focus
compared with Photoshop, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and a few other
products. Word 2000 did not appear to suffer from this degradation.
3) The dialog provided in Word 2002 (Format picture/picture/compress) does
not appear to retain the values selected, but reverts to the defaults. e.g.
If I select "No Change" (resolution) and/or untick "Compress pictures", exit
the dialog and then return to the dialog, the options have reverted to "Print
- 200dpi" and "Compress pictures". Why is this? It appears that I cannot
override Word 2003's default and print pictures at greater than 200 dpi.
Selecting these settings also appears to have no effect, which is evident
when I link or imbed a high resolution picture (say 600dpi). What am I doing
wrong?

Word 2003 appears to suffer from exactly the same symptoms.
Regards,
Hugh>>
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 Editions explained
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx