Importing Letterhead From InDesign to Word
Posted by George in Adobe InDesign, General DesignI recently had created some letterhead for a client in Adobe InDesign that was to be professionally printed. However, they also needed to be able to create electronic documents with the letterhead converted to PDF from Microsoft Word. It seemed like this should be easy enough to pull off, but it turned out to be an exercise in trial and error. Fortunately, I found a solid solution after many failed attempts.
Logic (which I was foolish to try to apply to anything involving the use of image data in Microsoft Word) told me that my best option would be to export the letterhead from InDesign as a .wmf file, since it’s A) vector-based and B) a Microsoft file format. Then, I should (“should” being the keyword) just be able to Insert>Picture>From File in MS Word with no problems. Unfortunately, the quality of the original vector artwork seems to be affected by this method, and by “affected” I mean “rasterized.” I have since learned that .wmf does not support Bezier curves, which is another reason to avoid exporting from InDesign to a .wmf.
Original vector artwork exported from InDesign to PDF (at 300%)
.wmf artwork inserted into Word and exported to PDF (at 300%)
So, it would seem that using a .wmf file is out, if we want to maintain our vector image. Next, I tried exporting an .emf followed by Insert Picture>From File into word and converted it to PDF. This version did, at least, yield a vector-based result. However, the paths seemed to be degraded somewhere in the conversion and smooth curves seemed to be converted into jagged segments. (Update: This is due to the fact that .emf also does not support Bezier curves and hence “converts” curves to a series of line segments.)
EMF converted from Word to PDF (300%)
Original vector artwork comparison with EMF exported from Word (800%)
At this point, you’re probably wondering, “Why didn’t you export your InDesign file to an .EPS?” Well, actually, that was the first option that I tried, but when I imported it into Word, the results looked like this…
EPS letterhead as it appears in MS Word
The moral of this story is that you can’t trust appearances in Word. When the same file that the image above was taken from is exported to a PDF, you end up with the following result.
EPS converted from Word to PDF (100%)
Same EPS converted from Word to PDF (300%)
When importing the EPS into Word and exporting to a PDF, we end up with our vector image information intact and unharmed, just as it was before we imported it into Word.
To make a long story short, if you want to import letterhead from InDesign into MS Word. Follow these steps to set up your Word Document
- Export your InDesign file to EPS format.
- Open a new Word document.
- View>Header and Footer.
- Insert>Picture>From File and select your EPS file.
- Format>Picture
- Layout>Behind Text
- Size>Make sure Height and Width are at 100%
- View>Header and Footer (to exit the edit Header/Footer)
Depending on the size of your letterhead, you will probably need to adjust your margins, so that your main text does not overlap your header image. After you’ve entered your text in Word, just export to a PDF, and you should have a clean vector-based letterhead.
Tags: Adobe InDesign, electronic letterhead, EMF, EPS, export from InDesign, import into Word, import to Word, InDesign to Word, letterhead, MS Word, PDF, pdf letterhead, vector images in Word, WMF
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It seems like you need to compromise somewhere? If you use EPS, your word document will be huge! This is not ideal for sending electronic copies to various locations. If you create outlines of all text and graphics before converting to EMF, you will get a pretty good result and a tiny file size. Who zooms in 300-400% to see if the curves are completely smooth? I would rather have a smaller file size than perfectly smooth graphic.
It seems like EMF would be a much more compatible format as well. Does EPS work for all computers? Even if you don’t have a graphics program like Illustrator?
If you are just sending a letterhead to the copy center, I would definitely go with EPS. But if you are using the letter head for all your employees to print on regular printers or to send to vendors, EMF fits the bill.
I welcome feedback. I am knew to this format and want to know all the downsides.
Hi David,
Your file size will not necessarily be huge if you use an .EPS. I’m currently away from the machine that has the files that I used in this example, but I will give them a look, and see what the file size is.
The reason I zoomed in on the example was to show the degradation of the curves, which, in theory, simply shouldn’t happen when importing a vector-based image. However, the particular client, for whom I was working on the letterhead used in the example, definitely noticed the reduced image quality that occurred using the .EMF, which is why I had to find an alternative. The client needed electronic documents to be sent in PDF format, and the .EPS was the only way to go to achieve this without degrading the image quality of the client’s logo.
As for compatibility, .EPS is a universal Post Script file format. In fact, it is often the preferred format for most print shops that I have dealt with. That being said, if you save an Illustrator file as an .EPS and want to later modify it, you will need a graphics program like Illustrator to do so. However, you don’t need Adobe Illustrator or any other graphics program to use an .EPS file. Since it’s a Post Script file, many applications allow for .EPS files to be inserted into documents.
As for .EMF, like I said, technically, it should not degrade in Word, since it is a vector-based format. For some reason Word does some strange things to the paths of objects when you import them as an .EMF. However, If you can achieve the results you’re looking for with the .EMF file format for your letterhead, and it gives you a more desirable file size, then I say go for it.
Hi David,
I just learned (I’m ashamed to admit that I was not aware of this until today) that the .emf and .wmf formats do not supports Bezier curves (which is what Illustrator and InDesign artwork is based on). This is the reason for the jagged edges on the .emf. I’m still not sure why the .wmf appears as though it has been rasterized when imported into Word, though.
Hi,
I tried out everything you said and it worked, except the .eps image is grey in the word document, however if I print it, it comes out with the correct colouring. Have I missed something?
Also, more importantly, are you able to tell me how to save or export (im unsure what to do or how) the header and footer into a permanent word document as an electronic template??
Thanks!
Yaz,
You haven’t missed anything. The reason it appears gray in the Word Document is related to how Word renders EPS when it displays it on-screen. In my example, the EPS file appears to have horrible image quality when viewed in Word, but it prints out perfectly. That is why I initially tried so many other formats, because I didn’t realize, at first, that the EPS would look correct when printed.
I’m not sure I understand you question about saving the header/footer into a “permanent word document.” If you want to create a Word Template with your header and footer, just place the EPS in a blank document, then Save As and select Document Template (.dot). You can then select this template whenever you create a new document. (Sorry, if I misunderstood the question.)
Well – this only works on a Mac in the latest version of Word. It still doesn’t work on the latest word for windows. I have been using the wmf option for a long time, and getting acceptable (but still poor by comparisson) results by enlarging the graphics by 1000% before exporting as wmf. EMF is equally poor but actually better than wmf if you use the blowing up tip
Nik,
The EPS method should work in Windows. The example that I used was done on WinXP machine using Word 2003 for a client using Word 2007 on WinVista machine. EMF and WMF are going to replace any Bezier curves, so you’re going to lose some quality with either of those formats. The blowing up trick will minimize how noticeable the segments are, but there will be a loss of quality regardless of how much you blow the drawing up, unfortunately.
Nik,
I have actually now run into the same problem that you were likely having using Word 2007 on Windows 7. I simply can’t create Word files with imported EPS artwork in them on Word 2007 without Word wanting to covert the EPS to another format. While the files with EPS letterhead that I created using WinXP in Word 2003 will work fine in Word 2007, I can’t create new Word docs with EPS letterhead in 2007. Fortunately, I still have Word 2003 on one of my machines, but it’s fairly ridiculous that this can’t be done easily in Word 2007.
Hi, I’m a Word user and I quite often have people send me .eps files but sometimes I have problems with them. Most of the time – they are as you mentioned above – look terrible on screen but print and PDF beautifully. Other times I have problems with them (a) the quality is poor when PDFd and (2) an error occurs in word when trying to import
Can you please advise what settings to use within InDesign to create a good quality .eps?
png files work beautifully in word. Small .eps files wont bulk up the word document but will add to the time it takes Word to create the final pdf.
For pngs.. export your letterhead “parts” (header/footer etc..) from InDesign out as an EPS. Open the eps files in Photoshop as RGB 150dpi files. Zie them so they will appear at 100% in word. Save out of Photoshop as pngs & then place (insert ->file) them into Word.
Wow, just spent 3 hours trying to do this via png and emf files but it all went whack.
The eps route was easy and perfectly acceptable ( especially for Word users – ^dig^ )
Colour me relieved Thank you!!!
I just noticed that if rotated the eps-file inside Word the picture got a very low resolution. So make sure the eps-file is in its correct rotation before you insert it into Word!