how to export high res image embedded in word document

[Jeff]

Someone gave me a Microsoft Word document with a number of 300 dpi images placed in it. I need to get these high-res images out of word and into an image editing program to do some touch-up, but I can't seem to figure out how to export the full resolution versions from Word. When I copy them to the clipboard and paste them into PhotoPaint, I get ~200-300 pixels across total, as if Word is copying out a screen-resolution version.

Anyone know how to export a full resolution image which has been placed in a word document to get it into another program to edit the image?

[Andilinks]

I tried this with Word8, I hope it works as well for you. I pasted a jpg image into a word doc, which then became a bitmap. The doc had text as well.

I closed the doc, then reopened it. Went to the View menu, then Page Layout. clicked on the image to select it, copied it with the toolbar copy button, then opened PaintShopPro and pasted with the Paste toolbar button.

I got a dialog box that asked if I wanted a Meta image import, I clicked yes, and it pasted the full resolution bitmap.

I did this several times, once with an image that was 868 x 600 pixels...

I hope that helps, maybe your image is corrupted somehow.

Or maybe it is a vector image (as opposed to raster) in which case the method below maybe the easiest, unless you have a program that edits vector images.

If you can't get them out this way, you can possibly do a screen capture, do your edit from there and delete the old image and reinsert a new one.

Andi

[Randall]

I'd like to know the answer to that as well. I've been reduced to doing screen grabs at high magnification.

Today I found this workaround, but it sounds tricky:

http://guir.berkeley.edu/internal/howto/word_extract_images.shtml

If you can convert the doc to a high-res PDF you might be able to extract the images from that (or even open the PDF in a program like Photoshop).

Randall

[Jeff]

OK - inspired by Andi's post, I tried it again but this time into an old version of PhotoShop rather than Corel PhotoPaint and it appears to work better.

I first copied the image from Word and pasted into PhotoPaint and ended up with an image 230 pixels wide (same as before) and noticably worse than the one in Word.

Then I opened PhotoShop -> New Image -> and Pasted the same clipboard contents into PhotoShop and that pasted in is 1081 pixels wide and noticably better (not sure how to determine the actual pixel dimensions of the image in the word document in word).

I don't copy from word to PhotoPaint often at all, but I've also done the screencapture method a couple times before as I always thought it was a word problem copying the image out rather than a problem with PhotoPaint pasting it in.

Actually the PDF method might not be bad either but it looks like the clipboard with photoshop rather than photopaint will work ok for this one.

Thanks.

[Andilinks]

Yes, Ka-Ping Yee has one solution...

I think later versions of Word (later than 8 or 97) convert internal images to the WMF extension. There maybe a pgm to get them back to bmp but Ka-Ping Yee's workaround seems good enough unless you do this every day... Or screen capture is very easy too if you can get away with that.

Andi

[Randall]

When I tried Andi's approach in Photoshop, I got an image no bigger than the visible size in Word -- ie, the size depends on your view magnification -- and it had serious color problems. A 24-bit image was reduced to 71 colors, which is horrible. ~#

Randall

[Randall]

Follow-up on Ka-Ping Yee's workaround: When I do a "Save As Web Page" in Word 2000, it does not delete the PNG file. Yes!

Whether it's going to be that easy for everyone I don't know -- and it's useless if you've got Word 97. Dunno about XP.

Randall

[dufbil]

Hi,

I had the same problem, and that's how I bumped into this forum.
I found a solution (for Word 2002, on an XP computer).
Copy the image from Word, paste it in a powerpoint file, rightclick it and choose 'save as image', choose TIF as a format and open it in Photoshop to see it in all its glory.
:)

Hope this works for you too?

[Adam]

When I do a "Save As Web Page" in Word 2000, it does not delete the PNG file.

Not everybody is this lucky; however:

From MS Word Help:
On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the General tab, and then click Web Options.
Click the Browsers tab.
Under Options, select the Allow PNG as a graphics format check box.

:QTrtfm:Nobody ever reads the manual! :P