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Need with file conversion

ceo_esq

Illuminator
C
Joined
Jul 17, 2002
Messages
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How the #@*%! did I neglect to type the word "help" in the title of this thread?

Anyway, I've created a one-page poster (including images and unusual fonts) in Microsoft Word. I want the local copy shop to print it out, but when I e-mail the Word file to them, it doesn't look the same as on my screen (a few text boxes have been shifted around and the fonts don't look the same).

The print shop guy suggested saving the file as a PDF or a JPEG before sending it back to him. I don't have software to do either, and when I used one of those online file conversion sites (where they e-mail the PDF back to you), I got the same problem: fonts look different and elements have been slightly shifted around.

Any ideas on how to turn the document on my screen into a format that will look the same on anyone's computer?
 
A quick google for 'free pdf printer' turned up this. It should install like a printer and then you just print from word to this pdf printer. Then you can view it with acroread and however it looks on acroread will be what the print shop will produce. It might work.

Here's another one.
 
Not wanting to sound patronising, you really shouldn't use Word for DTP. If you have page layout, use a DTP app.

Lecture over.

I agree. PDF or PS is the only way to go. A PS or EPS (ugh) file should work. If your print shop won't take a PostScript file, it's time to find a better print shop. Just set up a dummy post script printer, print to file, and give them the resulting PS file.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
I agree that making it into a PDF is officially the best solution. However, if the document contains any images, it will be tricky to keep them in a decent resolution and if you manage to make it a decent resolution the PDF file will probably have an enormous filesize.

And I have noticed that when it is imported in for example photoshop, it might still be unable to render the correct fonts. Even if you have those fonts installed on the computer you open it in or if the fonts are embedded. Mind you, this may not be a problem with new versions of Photoshop: I'm still using version 5.

It may be a good idea to check the settings of Word itself to see if you are embedding the fonts into the document. You should. With the correct fonts there's also a good chance the textboxes stay at the correct place.

If the copyshop does not have the exact same version of Word as you do, it might not work correctly either unfortunately. And if Mircosoft can't make even make Word compatible with Word, I doubt any other alternative wordprocessor will give a better result.

An annoying but reliable solution however is this: set your screen to the highest resolution it supports, open Word and your favourite graphics program. Open the document in Word with a high magnification, set Word to FullScreen mode and hit Print Screen, paste in graphics program and repeat hitting Print Screen and pasting until you have every part of it in the graphics program. Then start stitching all those seperate parts together.
Save as JPG or something.

Works everytime.
 
CEO, email me the Word file and fax me the page. I'll make it look the same for you, assuming you haven't used some incredibly whacky fonts that only you have on your system. If you embed the fonts in the Word document, as Earthborn said, that will help. I'll make a PDF file for your printer.

I'll amend what Rat said: Don't use Word, period. It is fundamentally broken.

~~ Paul
 
I would strongly recommend against conversion to .JPG unless (1) you happen to have software which can do a good job of it, and the ability to transfer the resulting (large) file to your print shop, or (2) it's an absolute last resort - good, bad, or ugly, you have to print it or the earth will be destroyed at noon.

Your poster is a mix of vector content (fonts, vector graphics, etc.) and possibly raster content (bitmap images) - it depends on the nature of your pictures and figures. Conversion to .JPG means conversion of the whole ball of wax to raster content (lots of dots). Worse yet, .JPG uses lossy compression to reduce the file size. Depending on how this is performed, it can really trash the quality of your content. Some programs give one control over the compression parameters, and let the user preview the results. Others just use a canned set of parameters, and one gets what one gets, even if it means having "clouds" around all of the supposedly crisp vector content. Ideally, the rasterization (conversion to dots) of vector content should take place at the print shop, and be performed by the software that talks to the printer. PostScript, Encapsulated PostScript, and .PDF are typically good "food" for this software.

Keep in mind, too, that the printer is capable of resolution that puts your monitor to shame. One could make a good .JPG file of the whole poster, but it might have to be really, really big (high resolution and low compression). Some of your print shop's suggestions leave me questioning whether they're really serving your needs well.

Best choice at the moment: let Paul do it! If, Ed forbid, Paul's struck by lightning or something, then contact me, and I'll see what I can do. Otherwise, consider me hopelessly outclassed by a pro.

If it's the sort of thing you wish to do more of in the future, then work out in advance with a print shop what an appropriate drill might be for getting the content from you to them without spilling a drop. Then go through the drill once or twice to make sure it works as expected. This is all far easier when you don't need a poster right away.


_Q_
 
Update: Problem solved, or at least shifted away from yours truly, which is even more important.

Thanks for all the tips and offers. You guys rule. And I will never make the mistake of using Microsoft Word for such purposes again.
 
ceo_esq said:
Update: Problem solved, or at least shifted away from yours truly, which is even more important.
Click to expand...

The proper term is 'Delegating Resposibility.'

Page 204 in the "Pinheaded, Brown-nosed Mid-Management Suck-up Handbook."

I never go anywhere without it.
 
Nasarius said:
Alternately, OpenOffice has a built-in "Export to PDF" option, and can read MS Word documents.
Click to expand...
[TANGENT]For the uninitiated, OpenOffice is a free, open-source program that incorporates a word processer, spreadsheet, presentation editor (PowerPoint compatible) and HTML editor. You can save files in OO's native format, or in MS-compatible format. I've found that its MS-Word compatibility is very good, though you do occasionally get some weird stuff with embedded tables. As noted earlier, it also includes a basic .PDF form generator. And since it's free, you don't find yourself on the horns of the dilemma of either paying MS a couple of hundred bucks for Office or stealing it ( :mad: ) from your office.

Warning: It's a big file, 65 MB IIRC, so if you're using a dialup connection, be prepared for a couple of hours downloading (and pray you don't lose your connection in the meantime). Or you can go to eBay, where there are guys selling CDs of it for five bucks. [/TANGENT]
 
Since ceo_esq's problem has been solved, I'd just like to offer my own <del>condemnation</del> thoughts on using Microsoft Word for anything other than, well, anything really. Each year I've got to prepare a set of 90pp+ documents, and each year I really regret the decision that I prepare them in Word for portability purposes. Every time I alter a section, all the page-breaks go to hell, all the lefthand blank pages (so that new sections always start on righthand pages) turn into righthand pages, and whenever Word has to assume a blank page, it won't put in the standard header and footer (which have all gone to cock anyway). It was never this hard with Pagemaker or even Quark Express–which is a pretty sophisticated but anti-intuitive.

Then there's the fun and games with converting Word documents to pdf to send to the printers, what with discovering theat conversion somehow wrecked all the page margins and having to alter each page individually with Acrobat's Crop pages command.

Word is like trying to plaster walls with jelly and ice cream.
 
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