Word 2008 - Word 2007 picture color problems

[BartD]

Dear Word users,

I often work on files from colleagues that use Word 2007 on Windows.
I'm having the following major problem when sharing word documents
made in Word 2008 with Word 2007 users.
I create an illustration in Adobe Illustrator, save it as eps and
import it as a picture in Word 2008. The picture looks great in Word
2008 but when someone on Word 2007 opens the file all the colors in
the picture are washed out. When I import the picture under Word 2007
and open it in Word 2008, so the other way around, then the colors
remain unaltered and look perfect. So Word 2007 has problems with
pictures that are imported under Word 2008. How can I solve this
problem? It is very annoying, because on my Mac everything looks great
but under Windows it does not, so I can not see the final result on my
Mac. Also, under Windows I have the option to convert the picture to a
shape, which is very convenient as I can then make adjustments to the
picture in Word. Where is this option in Word 2008??

Regards,

Bart

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Cross-platform graphics is not as simple as it ought to be. With luck,
someone more knowledgable than me will see your question, but in the
meantime, you might search the newsgroup for discussion of "eps",
especially posts from Elliott Roper.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office.word/topics

I suspect that there are about six ways to get an EPS from Illustrator
to Word, and that a certain way might solve your problem, but that's
just a vague memory from reading previous posts on similar issues.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bart:

We pathetically hoped they would get tis right in Word 2008. Not yet...

The only thing I can suggest is that you ensure your graphics are set to
24-bit colour depth. Microsoft Office applications have some issues with
anything other than the RGB colour model.

Both the PC and the Mac versions fudge 32- and 48-bit colour, which does not
help at all!

Of course, for professional graphics applications, there is benefit in using
Insert>Picture>From File. Check "Link to File" then de-select "Embed in
document".

This means that Word on both platforms will be using the original file from
Illustrator, and will not be able to make any changes at all.

Of course it's a pain having to send the file and its pictures to other
people. But you will cope Create a folder for the document and its
pictures, and zip the whole thing together. If the pictures and the
document are in the same folder (not a subfolder within it) Word will
automatically find them each time the document opens, even if you change
platforms.

Of course, if you are working in .docx format, there may be no benefit in
doing this, because that's exactly how a .docx works internally.

Sorry: No "Convert to Shape" in Word 2008. Office 2008 does not contain
vector editing facilities. We screamed at them, and hopefully they will be
back in the next version. But not in this version.

Sorry.

Hope this helps

Dear Word users,

I often work on files from colleagues that use Word 2007 on Windows.
I'm having the following major problem when sharing word documents
made in Word 2008 with Word 2007 users.
I create an illustration in Adobe Illustrator, save it as eps and
import it as a picture in Word 2008. The picture looks great in Word
2008 but when someone on Word 2007 opens the file all the colors in
the picture are washed out. When I import the picture under Word 2007
and open it in Word 2008, so the other way around, then the colors
remain unaltered and look perfect. So Word 2007 has problems with
pictures that are imported under Word 2008. How can I solve this
problem? It is very annoying, because on my Mac everything looks great
but under Windows it does not, so I can not see the final result on my
Mac. Also, under Windows I have the option to convert the picture to a
shape, which is very convenient as I can then make adjustments to the
picture in Word. Where is this option in Word 2008??

Regards,

Bart

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[BartD]

Thanks Dalya and John,

It's a shame that Word is being crippled in this way. I don't
understand why they seem to forget the core functions of Word in favor
of new fancy layouts. We have Pages from Apple for fancy layouts.
Words primary focus should be on business use and for this the product
has to work properly and provide full compatibility with versions on
other platforms. We don't need two 'Pages' like applications. If Word
continues to develop along this route then Apple computers will become
less and less attractive for serious business and educational use, as
for this seamless compatibility with Microsoft Office applications is
a must. There is a clear niche for Microsoft Office in the business
area and I don't get why they are leaving this niche.

And as for my color problem, I will try to find a way to save my
pictures in 24bit. I will post here when I find a working solution.

Regards,

Bart

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bart:

I hope they have learned the error of their ways

One problem was that they ran out of time and money. They have now hired a
lot more people (or are hiring ...) so we hope that won't happen again.

I think they have also finally accepted that they will never be competitive
in the fancy layouts home-user market with Word, but they owned the high
ground and they need to get back there where they're good at what they do.

Next version should be a lot more business-like with (I hope...) a lot less
development resource wasted on useless eye-candy...

Cheers

Thanks Dalya and John,

It's a shame that Word is being crippled in this way. I don't
understand why they seem to forget the core functions of Word in favor
of new fancy layouts. We have Pages from Apple for fancy layouts.
Words primary focus should be on business use and for this the product
has to work properly and provide full compatibility with versions on
other platforms. We don't need two 'Pages' like applications. If Word
continues to develop along this route then Apple computers will become
less and less attractive for serious business and educational use, as
for this seamless compatibility with Microsoft Office applications is
a must. There is a clear niche for Microsoft Office in the business
area and I don't get why they are leaving this niche.

And as for my color problem, I will try to find a way to save my
pictures in 24bit. I will post here when I find a working solution.

Regards,

Bart

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]