Choosing an Insert Method for Pictures

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 5, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

It is common practice to insert pictures into Word documents. (You know—a picture is worth a thousand words.) When inserting JPG images into Word documents, you should strongly consider using the Picture option from the Insert menu, rather than doing a simple copy and paste. The reason for this is that Word handles pictures differently when they are cut and pasted compared with when they are inserted. When they are cut and pasted they are treated as TIFF files, which are typically much larger than JPG files, even if the original photos were JPGs.

For example, a twelve-page document with no photos takes approximately 72.5 KB on disk. Adding two photos using cut-and-paste techniques resulted in a file that was 435 KB in size. The same document, when the same photos had been inserted correctly (using Insert | Picture), shrank to 146 KB.

By inserting pictures in this manner you can save enormous amounts of hard disk space and communication bandwidth if the document has to be e-mailed. In addition, the file will load faster and you can make edits quicker.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1463) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is four less than 6?

2016-10-04 11:14:08

Steve Dunham

Does Word paste pictures as TIFFs even if you choose Paste Special and Enhanced Metafile?

2016-10-03 16:39:42

Steve Wells

A picture worth a thousand words; a word is worth a milli-picture.

I found similar file-size issues when inserting Visio drawings. (Your experience may be different.) The initial insertion works fine, and drawing size is reasonable, but if I double-click a Visio object later to edit it and make a slight change usually (for me) results in the Word file increasing by 15 MB or more for complicated drawings. It even does this if I close the Visio drawing without making ANY changes to it.
Rather than embedding a Visio drawing object, I create a graphic from the drawing and embed the graphic. (I retain a copy of the Visio drawing in a secure location for future editing as needed.) To create the graphic, from the Visio File menu, click Save As. Under Save as type, select Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif), and then click Save. In the GIF Output Options dialog box that opens, I select these options:
Data format: Non-Interlace, Background color: White
Color reduction: Adaptive , Transparency color: [Cleared check box]
Rotation: None, Flip horizontal: [Cleared check box], Flip vertical: [Cleared check box]
Resolution Custom: 600×600 pixels / in
Size: Custom: [Click sequentially Printer, Source, and Custom to reset.]
If Visio reports an error when attempting to save a large drawing, reduce the Resolution as necessary. The default value of 96×96 pixels / in usually works adequately for VERY large detailed drawings.

2016-10-02 23:57:36

Nenah

Thank you for all your tips. They are useful and I appreciate your sharing this information with us.

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