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Thread: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
Number of posts in this thread: 17 (In chronological order)
From: Andrea Miralia
Date: Tue, Nov 08 2016 11:19AM
Subject: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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Has anyone here seen a recurring problem with Acrobat DC just dropping images completely (GIFs, usually) when converting from Word Docs (or Docx) to PDF? We can't figure out the pattern. Sometimes they get dropped, and sometimes they don't. We've had to re-insert the images after the conversions, directly in Acrobat. It's annoying!
From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: Tue, Nov 08 2016 12:09PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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We have not seen that but we have noticed that the images do not end up in the correct location in the reading order or in the tag tree when converting from docx files. This problem can be avoided by setting the image to display in-line and saving to the .doc format. I am not sure if it is related to the issue that you are seeing.
Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)
From: Jonathan Cohn
Date: Tue, Nov 08 2016 1:03PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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Michael,
I thought that issue was resolved in Word 2013.
On 8 November 2016 at 14:09, Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC) <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> We have not seen that but we have noticed that the images do not end up in
> the correct location in the reading order or in the tag tree when
> converting from docx files. This problem can be avoided by setting the
> image to display in-line and saving to the .doc format. I am not sure if it
> is related to the issue that you are seeing.
>
> Mike Moore
> Accessibility Coordinator
> Texas Health and Human Services Commission
> Civil Rights Office
> (512) 438-3431 (Office)
>
>
From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: Tue, Nov 08 2016 1:14PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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I saw the issue on Office 2013 just yesterday...
Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)
From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Tue, Nov 08 2016 2:31PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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First, check the versions of the software involved. This has been an ongoing problem since Word converted to the .DOCX format.
Successive versions of both Word and Acrobat have improved the chance of getting the figure in the correction position in the PDF's reading order (RO).
The latest version of Word is 2016 (desktop version) and 365 (cloud version).
The latest version of Acrobat is DC (just updated a couple of weeks ago to build 15.020.20039: go to Help/About Acrobat to view this info).
The latest version of Adobe PDF Maker plug-in is 15.
Check your software fist and ensure you have the latest versions, along with any tweaks/bug fixes the companies have provided. Inline graphics in Word are fairly reliable with the RO. Wrapped graphics are still funky; sometimes good, sometimes not, but definitely improved from Word 2010 and 2007.
--Bevi Chagnon
- - -
Bevi Chagnon | www.PubCom.com
Technologists, Consultants, Trainers, Designers, and Developers
for publishing & communication
| Acrobat PDF | Print | EPUBS | Sec. 508 Accessibility |
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From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Tue, Nov 08 2016 3:06PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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Hi,
Have you examined the content pane? The only time I have seen images
disappear or drop is the images are hidden behind blank images that match
the background. Adjusting the order (z-order) is the easiest fix.
--
Ryan E. Benson
On Tue, Nov 8, 2016 at 1:19 PM, Andrea Miralia <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
>
> Has anyone here seen a recurring problem with Acrobat DC just dropping
> images completely (GIFs, usually) when converting from Word Docs (or Docx)
> to PDF? We can't figure out the pattern. Sometimes they get dropped, and
> sometimes they don't. We've had to re-insert the images after the
> conversions, directly in Acrobat. It's annoying!
>
> > > > >
From: Andrea Miralia
Date: Tue, Nov 08 2016 6:12PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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We've had the issue for 2 years now, with Acrobat DC this time and Word 2010 (version "14.")
This is a bug that we've had in hundreds of documents, all due at the same time, so this year and last, we had to manually insert them back in. They were nowhere to be found in the content panel.
From: Whitney Quesenbery
Date: Fri, Nov 11 2016 12:00PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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Yep. Here we are in 2016 and we still can't make the format work. I don't
want new features. I don't want cloud working I want bugs fixed.
On Tue, Nov 8, 2016 at 8:13 PM Andrea Miralia < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:
>
>
> We've had the issue for 2 years now, with Acrobat DC this time and Word
> 2010 (version "14.")
>
> This is a bug that we've had in hundreds of documents, all due at the same
> time, so this year and last, we had to manually insert them back in. They
> were nowhere to be found in the content panel.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
From: Andrea Miralia
Date: Mon, Nov 14 2016 8:27AM
Subject: Re: Nobody else has lost images? ( Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?)
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Just wondering - Nobody else has had this problem? We're wondering if it's because we used GIFs at 600DPI. We've experimented with higher resolution and different image formats, but nothing predictably survives the conversion to PDF. Again -- the images disappear completely. They don't appear in the content panel at all. They are all "in line" in the Word version (as we run the accessibility checker before converting them). And we've grown accustomed to having the move the "figure" tags every single time. Ugh.
Andréa Miralia
From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: Mon, Nov 14 2016 8:30AM
Subject: Re: Nobody else has lost images? ( Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?)
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Have you tried down-saving to .doc format before doing the conversion? That usually works for us.
Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)
From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Mon, Nov 14 2016 8:57AM
Subject: Re: Nobody else has lost images? ( Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?)
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600 dpi GIF?
That creates an enormously large file due to the resolution. And GIF has a limited color palette, so colors are often terrible and off.
Have you tried PNG? We have found them to be the best file format when converting Office documents to PDF. Smaller file size, crisper graphics, retains colors.
RE: missing graphics, I think the problem is with your version of Word. We haven't had graphics problems for a few years after we upgraded from Word 2010. We deliberately keep our software up to date and use Word 2016 and Acrobat DC.
I'd try using a newer version or Word. Download a trial and see if it helps.
FYI, if you install a new version of Office, you will need to reinstall Acrobat DC again because it needs to add the PDF Maker plug-in to your new version of Word. Here are the instructions we give our clients:
1. Install the new version of MS Office (or Word).
2. Uninstall your current version of Acrobat. (Use the Control Panel utility to do this.)
3. Reboot your computer. Cold-boot, make sure your computer is totally down, not just asleep or rebooting.,
4. Start your computer.
5. Install Acrobat DC.
--Bevi Chagnon
From: Andrea Miralia
Date: Mon, Nov 14 2016 9:47AM
Subject: Re: Nobody else has lost images? ( Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?)
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Thanks. We will try that again. We hadn't tried the DOC "trick" in a while.
From: Andrea Miralia
Date: Mon, Nov 14 2016 9:52AM
Subject: Re: Resolution and Word versions (was Nobody else has lost images? ( Losing images whenconverting to PDF from Word?)
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Regarding DPI:
We tried all levels of resolution, from 72 DPI all the way to 900DPI. Nothing worked reliably. And we lost enough quality at the lower resolutions that the images were no longer passing QA and/or the text within the images were of such poor quality that *nobody* could read them.
PNGs have been only slightly more likely to make it through the conversion process intact.
We tried it with the newest version of Word and Office available to us (I have to check to see exactly what those are - can't remember offhand), but the problem remained. I will see if Word 2016 is an option.
From: Metzessible
Date: Wed, Nov 16 2016 7:49AM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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What's the reason you're using GIF in the first place? Are you trying to
export an animation?
GIF is a very old format, with support for the specification ending in
1989. It also only supports up to 256 colors, vs the newer transparency
enabled graphic format PNG.
There could be a number of reasons why it's not exporting correctly. It
could be created a long time ago, something may be wrong with the way the
file was created that isn't jiving with the PDF exporter in Word, Word may
be using a different method to parse GIFs, the way it is compressing the
PDF file on export may be conflicting with the other file formats you are
using because it's such an old format, etc.
Can you post a dummy word and pdf where this happens somewhere so we can
get a better look?
My recommendation otherwise is to convert your formats to more current
technology, since it's so old. Aside from that, I am having trouble
reproducing the problem.
Thanks,
Jon
On Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 2:00 PM Whitney Quesenbery < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:
> Yep. Here we are in 2016 and we still can't make the format work. I don't
> want new features. I don't want cloud working I want bugs fixed.
>
> On Tue, Nov 8, 2016 at 8:13 PM Andrea Miralia <
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > We've had the issue for 2 years now, with Acrobat DC this time and Word
> > 2010 (version "14.")
> >
> > This is a bug that we've had in hundreds of documents, all due at the
> same
> > time, so this year and last, we had to manually insert them back in. They
> > were nowhere to be found in the content panel.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
From: Andrea Miralia
Date: Thu, Nov 17 2016 2:27PM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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We had the same problem with PNG and with TIFF. I'll post an example file when I get permission to do so, or I'll create a dummy.
From: Metzessible
Date: Fri, Nov 25 2016 9:58AM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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That's fascinating. Haven't encountered this problem yet. I appreciate you
posting something so I can see what's happening with the word and pdf file.
Thanks,
Jon
On Thu, Nov 17, 2016 at 4:28 PM Andrea Miralia <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> We had the same problem with PNG and with TIFF. I'll post an example file
> when I get permission to do so, or I'll create a dummy.
>
>
>
>
From: Andrea Miralia
Date: Mon, Nov 28 2016 8:09AM
Subject: Re: Losing images when converting to PDF from Word?
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I will, as soon as I get a chance. I haven't forgotten. :)