How To Create A Vector File From Word

Most of us who have touched upon design in their career will have at some point received a request to have the company letterhead inserted into a Word document. Those of us who understand the value of a vector image will often cringe at this request and provide other solutions to maintain the quality of the vector graphic. However, our solutions do not directly address the heart of the request. The individual marking this request understands Word and does not want to use any additional programs or steps they view as an inconvenience, which often leads to the conversion of the vector image into a raster image.

Below are the steps that I have identified to insert a vector image into Word. The vector image may not be 100% perfect, but very close. Minor flaws around certain vector points can be identified when viewing a PDF created from Word at a high zoom percentage. Except for those minor flaws in the PDF, the image will appear sharp when viewing it in Word or when the image is printed from Word.

Inserting the vector image into Word requires multiple programs, but something that I do not view as being hard to execute. Since Adobe is my "native" language, the steps below start with Adobe, move to CorelDraw, then Microsoft Publisher and finally into Word. The steps below assume that the reader already has the ability to navigate Adobe products. Note; the process below was completed using a Windows OS.

Adobe Illustrator

The first step is to open your vector graphic (letterhead) in Adobe Illustrator. If you created your letterhead in Adobe InDesign, transfer your letterhead to Adobe Illustrator either by using the clipboard (copy & paste) or exporting your design to an EPS file.

• Pantone colors will not transfer into the Microsoft programs and CorelDRAW uses a different CMYK mix to represent its Pantone colors. If you prefer Adobe's CMYK mix, you should convert any Pantone colors while working in Adobe. This step is not necessary, but I provide the information because Adobe users may not like the CMYK mix for CorelDRAW.

• Outline all the fonts, and outline any strokes and lines.

• Save your vector image as an EPS file from Illustrator.

CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW offers a 30-day subscription for $24.95 (August 2015), so access to the software should not be an issue. [Update April 2019, CorelDRAW no longer offers the 30-day subscription service, but CorelDRAW does offer a "full 15-Day free trial."] The item that will cause the most pain will be for those individuals who do not understand the CorelDRAW interface. However, your actions will be limited.

• Open the EPS file you created from Adobe Illustrator in CorelDRAW. During this process, an "Import EPS" dialogue box will open with the option of selecting "text" or "curves," select "curves."

• Once the file is open, select the entire vector image. The process of selecting the image is similar to Adobe, then copy the image to the clipboard. This can be done by using "Ctrl+C" or the "Edit" menu at the top of CorelDRAW.

Microsoft Publisher

Publisher is used to format the vector image for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

• Open a Publisher page that will fit your vector image, then use "Ctrl+V" or the "Edit" menu to paste the image saved on the clipboard into Publisher. Transferring the image from the clipboard is the only way that the vector image imports cleanly into Publisher.

• Check all sides of the image to ensure no part of the image is being cutoff. If this error has occurred, select the vector graphic and open the "format object" window to fix the problem by adjusting the "crop from." This is done by entering a negative number for the edge that is being cutoff. Note; correct only one side at a time (left, right, top or bottom) if multiple sides need to be fixed.

• Use "Ctrl+C" or the "Edit" menu to copy the vector image to the clipboard. Move the image to the top left corner of the Publisher page as the position on the page impacts how the image will be pasted into Word.

Microsoft Word

Paste your image from Publisher into Word using the clipboard. I recommend pasting the image into the header and/or footer of Word when creating a letterhead.

Note; there is a delay the first time you select the image in Word. Click on the image once and then wait for Word to recognize the image before attempting to move or make changes to the image.

Microsoft Excel

The steps above can also be used to insert a vector image into Excel. For Excel, there are no additional steps, but the image cannot be placed into the header and/or footer of Excel.

Microsoft PowerPoint

With PowerPoint, additional steps may be necessary if you found it necessary to fix the image using the "crop from" feature in Publisher because the adjustments made under "format object" in Publisher will not carryover to PowerPoint.

• If so, the first step is to create a colored block behind the vector image in Adobe. This will "extend" the image beyond on the side that is being cropped.

• Open the EPS in CorelDRAW and remove the color (green) from the block that was inserted to "extend" the image – do not delete the block.

• Copy & paste the entire vector image, including the hidden object, into Publisher. The image below shows two images in Publisher. The vector image that was corrected in Publisher using "format object" and the image that was corrected starting with Adobe Illustrator.

• Copy & paste the image that was fixed in Adobe using the hidden object approach into PowerPoint. For comparison, the example below shows both versions. The top image was corrected using the "crop from" command and the bottom image shows the image that was fixed using the hidden block.

© 2015 JASlezak

How To Create A Vector File From Word

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inserting-vector-image-word-create-high-quality-joe-slezak

Posted by: hamiltonwathre.blogspot.com

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