Why Won't Word Work Well With.. Images?
September 13, 2017 2:20 PM   Subscribe

I often create Word documents and Powerpoint presentations that include various images, like logos or clipart. They are almost exclusively in .gif or .jpeg formats and may or may not include transparent backgrounds. But many of the images get messed up along the way and I can't figure out HOW or WHY and, more importantly, how can I fix it?

First - I have no choice but to use these particular programs for work-related purposes. I can't switch to Prezi or whatnot. I use Open Office at home, and am comfortable with it, but can't use that at my office either.

When I create the document/presentation, the images look great. I can save them, without closing the file, and all looks good as I continue working on them - or even if I leave the file open overnight.

But once I close the file, the next time that I open it to resume working on it (or to actually do the presentation) the image has a weird black bar on the top and left sides.

Here are two images - one from Powerpoint and one from Word.

In order to fix the image, I have to delete it and re-add it, and once again it's only good until I close and re-open the file. This is about as much fun as it sounds.

For files that I need to print regularly, I simply save to a pdf and all is fine. But for files that require me to open and use them randomly, like large powerpoint presentations, this is a huge pain in the butt.

I feel like I've tried absolutely every option related to images in Word and Powerpoint - and nothing works to prevent or eliminate the lines.

I have opened the image files independently in multiple image programs (like Gimp) and there are no lines anywhere to be found - so I'm assuming the problem is related to Word/Powerpoint.

Help? Please, oh please, help?
posted by VioletU to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Are your docs set to automatically compress images? If so try turning that off in Options
posted by KateViolet at 2:30 PM on September 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


This page has one piece of advice that sounds right (and others that do not): "Saved JPG image with RGB Color Mode in Photoshop. Color profile didn't matter. I think it's because Word uses RGB as the color model. You can also use HSL, but not CMYK." (Do not try to do the REGEDIT stuff there.) If you don't have Photoshop, many other graphics programs can also change images' color modes.
posted by Mo Nickels at 2:40 PM on September 13, 2017


This old MS Answers post seems to support KateViolet's theory, too.
posted by daisy55 at 2:41 PM on September 13, 2017


Have you tried pasting the images into Word or PPT as Enhanced Metafiles (Paste Special > "Picture (Enhanced Metafile)")? In the past that has solved a whole host of issues for me.
posted by lovableiago at 2:51 PM on September 13, 2017 [2 favorites]


I had this problem with Word before! I solved it by turning off auto compression (i.e. KateViolet's answer). That was an older version of Word than what I have now, though. I think the current option is called "Do not compress images in file" and comes unchecked. So check it, and see if it fixes it. Note that the default is for it to apply to the current document only.
posted by gemmy at 8:33 PM on September 13, 2017


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