Re: PDF and Word graphics problem

[dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com]

Christine -dot- Anameier -at- seagate -dot- com wrote:
> 
> ...use the PDFMaker add-on for Word...

This is absolutely the right way to get PDF from Word.

> 
> ...I avoid linked images entirely after inheriting a document full of
> them from someone else--because the links went to her personal directory on
> the server, which no longer exists, I had a couple hundred pages of broken
> links and therefore no images. I believe linked images are much more
> trouble than they're worth. If you use images saved in a format with decent
> compression, like GIF, saving them with the Word file doesn't add much to
> the size of your document.

Embedding graphics is certainly going to increase file size, and "much" is a relative term.  :)  I agree that you can produce big books with embedded graphics using Word, and sometimes that's appropriate.

The advantage to linking is that the graphics in the book can be updated as easily as those in the application.  Whenever I use application icons (buttons and such) in documentation, I use the same files as the application itself.  That way, when somebody decides Teal is out and Sage is in, I don't have to replace hundreds of little graphics in the manual.

If you inherit a book where the links point to a directory that you don't have on your computer (like d:\joesStuff\bigProject\images) it's easy to fix:

1.  Copy the graphics to a directory you *do* have, such as 
    c:\docs\bigProject\graphics.

2.  Open the document in Word, and press Alt+F9 to show field codes.

3.  From the Edit menu, choose Replace, and change all instances of 
    this:

      d:\\joesStuff\\bigProject\\images\\

    to this:

      c:\\docs\\bigProject\\graphics\\

    Important:  Be sure to use the double backslashes as shown.  It's 
    just the way you have to specify paths in Word field codes--they 
    won't work if you use single backslashes.

4.  When you finish, press Ctrl+A to select the entire document, and 
    then press F9 to update fields.

Voila!

Every time you open the document, Word will automatically update the graphics for you, using whatever it finds in the specified locations.

Couldn't get much better than that.  :)

--David

=============================
 David M. Brown - Brown Inc.
    dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com
=============================

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