Printing Pictures from Microsoft Word

Are you printing using Postscript, do you have a Postscript driver for your printer? Another way is to create a generic Postscript printer, print your document to a file through the generic Postscript printer, then PDF the whole thing.

On the other hand, you might want to switch to FrameMaker. This app is a word processor that was specifically designed for writing multi-chapter books. While not quite user-friendly at times, it works and works well; and is far better than Word.

Along the same lines as the suggestions by Stu & vermin, I'd suggest using Publisher for your layout.

I use Word for illustrated manuals & user guides up to about 60 pages, but it seems to get "wobbly" if I go much bigger. Also, the layout is much easier to control in Publisher vs Word.

Hi,

Convert the word file to Pdf format & take print. [Instead of converting whole file, take any single page with image which is not seen while printing]

Just give a try (I'm not sure about the outcome) & let me know what happens...

Hari

All suggestions are valid. But I'm affraid that your problem will repeat even if you use a pdf printer to make a pdf. Well, at least, you can see the pdf result before trashing any sheet of paper.

But if you are dealing with such size of project filled with pictures in big size and good resolution, you should consider using a serious software for page layout and editing.

Pagemaker is great. Then make a pdf file, and take it to print anywhere you want, or share over the internet. Pdf's will not have problems. Will do layout and page compositions that word would never do even in its wildest dreams without messing everything.

If you are stuck with using Word, do a page preview before printing. That should show you if you will have printng errors. Sometimes you may need to reformat the page margins individually to make a particular page fit. Add a "continuous" page break on the page before and toward the end of the page that needs the margin reset, then reset for that section only, monitoring it with the print preview.

I suspect the problem is related to the fact that, when you edit a document in Word, the changes are saved at the end of the file, rather than actually changing the document proper. When the document gets too big, Word loses track of where these changes belong. Try this: after your final edit, save the document with a new name, using "save as..." Sometimes this works...

hi Fritz,

I agree with what the others have posted, that MSWord is not the best tool for what you're doing. but if you're not willing to invest in a new application (and take some time learning it), you can do these steps and accomplish your goal quickly:

1. take note of the pics which failed to print or only partially printed,
2. download OpenOffice, and install it
3. run OpenOffice Writer, and open that document with the app
4. check to see if all the pictures in your document are visible. if so, proceed to step 5. if not, proceed to step 6.
5. export your doc into pdf. in OpenOffice, you can do that by clicking on the Adobe icon on the menu, or by clicking on "File", then "Export as PDF"
6. delete those pictures that are not visible. in their place, you will only see blank boxes with an "X" in them. this means those pictures were linked, not imported into the file. delete those empty boxes, and re-insert the pics. after checking that all the pics are now visible, do step 5.

now that your document is in pdf, you can take it anywhere and get it printed, and be confident that all your images will be visible and will all print properly.

HTH!

- langyaw

OK Fritz, I really don't like when people here divert from the real question and point you to use something else...just a pet hate. MS Word is not that bad. You just need to know how to 'beat it into submission'.

I had this problem a while back so i had to find where the problem is. Here is the fix;

1. Click on the tools tab.
2. Select options
3. Find the Print tab
4. Click the 'background printing' and 'drawing objects' check boxes.
5. Click OK.

That should fix your printing worries. Please note that I am using Word 97, but I am sure that the above steps would be similar if not the same.

I agree with guest. Plus try right clicking each picture and click the format picture size tab and make sure that the lock aspect ratio is checked. Then go to the position tab and click the float over text check box. Then two other check boxes become configurable. Select the move object with text and lock anchor and click OK. This will most certainly cause the pictures and text to overlap, but you can now position the pictures where you want. You will need to reformat you document, but you will have control which is what you want. I guess it's a lengthy process, but you will now learn to do this as you insert all pictures as you go.

I hope this works for you. As guest said, note that i too am using word97.

One more VERY important question... Are you importing your pictures or embedding them?

When you embed a picture, it becomes part of the document. When you import a picture, the picture doesn't become a part of the file. Instead, a marker is placed in the file that tells Word what picture you want there when it's time to view/print.

ALSO, what file type are your pictures? BMP, JPEG, TIFF,...?

Hi Fritz,

Lot of diagnosis, coming on the way....

Let me know, have you tried it -- if so what is the bottomline.

Hari

I worked in desktop publishing for many years and encountered a variety of problems with Word. Fundamentally the problems occur because not all of a document's information is stored in the file itself; some of it is on the host computer. For example, the fonts used are not part of the file that you take with you to Office Depot; they are on your hard drive at home, and you hope that the Office Depot has exactly the same font on their computer...but they don't. It's close, but no cigar. There might be slightly different spacing between letters or words, enough to occasionally make a small difference in the length of a line, which sometimes makes a word wrap to the next line, which might overlap a spot designated for a picture. Then the program has to decide what to move: the word or the picture. Since Word is fundamentally a word processor and not a picture processor, it gives priority to the words and the pictures take the back seat.

Unfortunately, Publisher has the same issue. It's not as bad as Word, but it still has problems. It's better at maintaining the cropping and sizing of pictures, but the text can still get moved around. There are professional layout programs (InDesign, Quark XPress) to do what you need to do, but they cost quite a bit and you don't need to buy. Also, you'd have to learn how to use the program and that can be daunting.

My solution was to tell my customers to print to PDF, and nine times out of ten that solved the problem. The resulting file is independent of local computer settings, because it includes in the file all of the information required to print. The downside is that it includes almost nothing not required...so it's hard to edit a PDF. But since you still have the source Word file, that's not an issue. You only need the PDF for printing.

There are a number of free PDF conversion programs out there. I haven't tried any of them, so I can't recommend one, but I don't think it's necessary to buy the full version of Acrobat. Depending on your version of Word, you may already have PDF creation capability built in.

I have been very busy and have had a chance to let all your good suggestions and advice pile up. I have thought very carefully about all responses and have taken the following action and it has worked.

I cleared and defraged both main computers, and instead of trying to acomplish many things at one time, I stayed off line, closed my mail, opened the book and broke it into like 6 volumes and added more pages carefully so that I now have 310 pages. I slowly edited every page, whenever I got the hourglass sign, I just waited for things to catch up which with everything else shut down was not a long wait. I was very surprised.

Then the test was to print. I did check the print preview and they all looked good. I then went to print for volume one and it worked fine. the only problems I had were all different and my own fault again. I had 2 printers going and would leave and twice I got a paper jam and also had to change cartridges about 6 times. Otherwise all is well and I thank everyone for their input.

Life is very interesting. Fritz.