Loss of image quality converting Word 07 fto PDF

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Lately, when converting a Word 2007 file to a PDF file, there seems to be degraded image quality in the PDF file. The front-page image was a bit blurry and pixilated. A colleague used Word ’08 and followed the same steps, resulting in a front-page image that looks good.

Here’s how I convert:

1. In Word, Save as type: PDF
2. Save

Any thoughts about what might be the problem here? I do have the full purchase version of Adobe Acrobat Standard 8.

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Ben,

I haven’t used the builtin PDF converter in Word but I do use PrimoPDF and it has settings for screen {low res} and print {high res}. You could look for these settings in Word and/or Adobe or load PrimoPDF {free}. I’ve used Primo for years without complaint.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Lately, when converting a Word 2007 file to a PDF file, there seems to be degraded image quality in the PDF file. The front-page image was a bit blurry and pixilated.

I’m not sure whether you are generating the PDF using Adobe PDFMaker or Microsoft’s (“PDF or XPS”) add-in. In previous threads I think you had to use Adobe’s to preserve certain tags or links. I don’t have Acrobat, so I can’t assist with settings there.

What was the original format of the problem images: PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP? You might have to open the DOCX file in a ZIP program to determine this. Any better or worse results with one of these?

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Ben,

I have both Adobe Acrobat Pro and the PDF or XPS add-in. I created a document and produced a pdf three different ways —

Save As > Adobe PDF
Save As > PDF or XPS
Print > Adobe PDF

The first two have limited settings/adjustments and the last one has quite a few that address image quality. Thing is, I got the same result no matter which option I took.

You said your colleague followed the same steps… was it with your document? If so, I suspect the default settings of whichever program you used has reduced the quality of the image. If you Print to Adobe PDF, you can change these settings on the fly. If you Save As, you can adjust the default settings for images so Acrobat will not compress/reduce them below a certain point.

If you are using Microsoft’s add-in, I’m not aware of a way to adjust the image and a very quick internet search didn’t change that. My knowledge of Macs is limited, too, so I don’t know if they are simply better at rendering an image. Would you care to post your document, or a representative document with the same problem? I’ll be happy to test it on my PC.

Best,
Kim

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It’s documented quite well here:
http://wordtopdfimage.blogspot.com/2012/02/preserve-image-quality-when-saving-from.html

Includes screenshot comparisons.

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Wow, the stuff we do without thinking about it (or looking at the results)! I am impressed by your picking up the difference in the first place.

For users who are conversant with both Office and WordPerfect Office (which had integrated PDF before Office), I would be interested to hear of a similar comparison.

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