Insert image does not retain Image quality

[livetohike]

Hello,
I have tried inserting a jpg, gif, and bmp into a Word doc (via Insert/
Image) and they all look worse than the original when viewed side by
side on my monitor.

Anything I can do about this?

What format does Word use to store inserted images?

Thanks

 

[macropod]

Hi livetohike,

The difference in appearance is probably due to a mismatch between the image dimensions and the scaling used to show it in Word.
Unless it's for on-screen use only, what really matters is whether the printed output is of sufficient quality.

Cheers

 

[livetohike]

Hilivetohike,

The difference in appearance is probably due to a mismatch between the image dimensions and the scaling used to show it in Word.
Unless it's for on-screen use only, what really matters is whether the printed output is of sufficient quality.

Cheers
--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]
-------------------------

Hello,
I have tried inserting a jpg, gif, and bmp into a Word doc (via Insert/
Image) and they all look worse than the original when viewed side by
side on my monitor.

Anything I can do about this?

What format does Word use to store inserted images?

Thanks

This is mostly for on-screen.
Can you point me to something that explains how Word scales/handles
pasting images?

I played w/ it for an hour by copying images from various sources and
pasting them into Word as pictures, but saw no rhyme or reason to how
it works.

Thanks

 

[macropod]

Hi livetohike,

I can't point you to anything specific, but I imagine what you're seeing is the aliasing & moiré effects you can get with on-screen
images in any graphics display program where the the image is being scaled to a size that can't easily be aligned with the screen
pixels. You can probably minimise this by examining the original image's dimensions and scaling it in Word to a size that gives an
exact multiple of image pixels to screen pixels. Even after doing that, though, viewing the document with a different scaling or on
other monitors with different resolutions is liable to reintroduce the same aliasing & moiré issues.

Cheers
--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]
-------------------------

Hilivetohike,

The difference in appearance is probably due to a mismatch between the image dimensions and the scaling used to show it in Word.
Unless it's for on-screen use only, what really matters is whether the printed output is of sufficient quality.

Cheers
--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]
-------------------------

Hello,
I have tried inserting a jpg, gif, and bmp into a Word doc (via Insert/
Image) and they all look worse than the original when viewed side by
side on my monitor.

Anything I can do about this?

What format does Word use to store inserted images?

Thanks

This is mostly for on-screen.
Can you point me to something that explains how Word scales/handles
pasting images?

I played w/ it for an hour by copying images from various sources and
pasting them into Word as pictures, but saw no rhyme or reason to how
it works.

Thanks

 

[livetohike]

Hilivetohike,

I can't point you to anything specific, but I imagine what you're seeing is the aliasing & moiré effects you can get with on-screen
images in any graphics display program where the the image is being scaledto a size that can't easily be aligned with the screen
pixels. You can probably minimise this by examining the original image's dimensions and scaling it in Word to a size that gives an
exact multiple of image pixels to screen pixels. Even after doing that, though, viewing the document with a different scaling or on
other monitors with different resolutions is liable to reintroduce the same aliasing & moiré issues.

Cheers
--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]
-------------------------

Hilivetohike,
The difference in appearance is probably due to a mismatch between the image dimensions and the scaling used to show it in Word.
Unless it's for on-screen use only, what really matters is whether the printed output is of sufficient quality.
Cheers
--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]
-------------------------
Hello,
I have tried inserting a jpg, gif, and bmp into a Word doc (via Insert/
Image) and they all look worse than the original when viewed side by
side on my monitor.
Anything I can do about this?
What format does Word use to store inserted images?
Thanks

This is mostly for on-screen.
Can you point me to something that explains how Word scales/handles
pasting images?

I played w/ it for an hour by copying images from various sources and
pasting them into Word as pictures, but saw no rhyme or reason to how
it works.

Thanks

Thanks, not sure I get all that. Seems like the same graphic on the
same monitor should display identically, but I think what you are
saying is that the application doing the displaying can have an affect
as well even if the graphic stored within the documents is bit for bit
identical.

I still don't understand when you say Word 'scales' the image. Why
does it scale it? Seems like it should maintain the original size.

I pasted a small gif from Photoshop to Word and then back again (from
Word to Photo) and the image definitely changed, so I still think Word
is changing the image itself, not just the way it displays it.

 

[macropod]

Hi livetohike,

Seems like the same graphic on the same monitor should
display identically, but I think what you are saying is that the
application doing the displaying can have an affect as well even
if the graphic stored within the documents is bit for bit identical.

Correct, but the image also has to be displayed at exactly the same size too.

I still don't understand when you say Word 'scales' the image. Why
does it scale it? Seems like it should maintain the original size.

Word scales the image the fit the space you've given it. If you've got a 3000*2000 pixel image, and you give it a 9*6cm size in
Word, then Word has to scale the image to that (ie 333.33 pixels/cm). And then, on top of that, you'll display the image at some
degree of magnification on-screen (eg page width or 100%) using a monitor whose resolution is nothing like that of the image.

I pasted a small gif from Photoshop to Word and then back again (from
Word to Photo) and the image definitely changed, so I still think Word
is changing the image itself, not just the way it displays it.

That's probably because, when you paste a GIF image into Word, Word converts it to jpg or png (I can't remember which). If you
pasted the image into Word as a link instead, that conversion wouldn't take place - Word would simply reference the image on disk
for display & printing purposes. Of course, if you copy the image displayed on screen (regardless of which method you've used to
insert the image into Word), that's what you'll get - the on-screen representation, not the original.

Cheers

 

[imahumdinger57]

I've worked extensively with this issue. It helps if you use Paste Special and select a bitmap than if you do a direct paste. I've also found that inserting an object (PDF) results in terrible quality, but if you use the sniptool in accessories, the quality is much better. If you have Adobe Pro, you also have the option of using the snapshot (camera) tool. Start with a large on-screen magnification if you are using either the snip tool or snapshot tool; the number of pixels makes a huge difference.

Finally, right click on the image to get the options box and select "Sharpen" if you can. This is not an option will all types of images, but it can help. It takes some experimentation to get the best image.
Hope this is helpful!

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

I've worked extensively with this issue. It helps if you use Paste Special and select a bitmap than if you do a direct paste. I've also found that inserting an object (PDF) results in terrible quality, but if you use the snip tool in accessories, the quality is much better. If you have Adobe Pro, you also have the option of using the snapshot (camera) tool. Start with a large on-screen magnification if you are using either the snip tool or snapshot tool; the number of pixels makes a huge difference.

Finally, right click on the image to get the options box and select "Sharpen" if you can. This is not an option will all types of images, but it canhelp. It takes some experimentation to get the best image.
Hope this is helpful!

Well ... maybe if they were waiting 4 1/2 years for a response!

 

[xavivergarabcn]

Well ... maybe if they were waiting 4 1/2 years for a response!

Never too late

 

[marko.serb]

Something like this doesn't get old.

 

[rami]

Well ... maybe if they were waiting 4 1/2 years for a response!

Hahaha

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Hahaha

I wasn't waiting three months for a response, either.

 

[sjlundberg]

Well ... maybe if they were waiting 4 1/2 years for a response!

Seven years since the question was asked... yet I found the answer helpful!