EPS file empty when stored in .doc

[morgana]

Hello,

When I import an .eps file into NeoOffice and save the document as a .doc file the image is missing (empty, white square) on the next opening. I've been experiencing this problem for some years and also in the current version I use (3.2.1 Patch 4).
When saving the document as a .odt or using a different image type (png) the problem does not occur.

[pluby]

Unfortunately, while NeoOffice supports rendering of EPS images, Microsoft Word does not so what you are seeing is not a bug but is a result of NeoOffice having better image support than Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word only supports bitmap image formats such as JPEG and PNG in .doc and .docx files so putting an EPS image in a .doc or .docx file would make that file unopenable by Microsoft Word.

Edit by pluby: The rest of this post contains a workaround that you can use now but I have started discussion about how we can automatically convert EPS images to a bitmap image format when saving as a .doc or .docx file in my next post below.

If you are saving to a .doc file so that other people can open the file in Microsoft Word, you will need to convert your EPS image to a bitmap format like JPEG or PNG and then insert the JPEG or PNG image into your NeoOffice document. Note that converting your image to a bitmap image format will lose the smooth scaling that vector image formats like EPS and PDF provide so you should convert from the largest size EPS original image that you have. You can convert your EPS image to a bitmap image format using the following steps:

1. Click on the EPS image in your .odt document within NeoOffice and select the Edit :: Copy menu

2. Delete the EPS from your document by pressing the Delete key

3. Select the Edit :: Paste menu and your bitmap version of your image will be pasted into the document

Are you able to save as a .doc file after converting your image to a bitmap image format.

Patrick

[pluby]

Since my previous post is only a workaround, I have created this new topic in our NeoOffice New Features Request forum.

There is a lot of discussion in that new topic between a few of our moderators and I about why EPS must be converted to a bitmap when saving to a .doc or .docx file so if you want to skip that, you can go directly to this post for a summary of what appears feasible for us to do to eliminate the need to replace EPS images in your .odt files with bitmap images.

Patrick

[pluby]

I have modified NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org code to export a 300 DPI bitmap image of any EPS images in your document when saving to .doc or .docx files. Although this modification of saving bitmap images is not as ideal as saving the original EPS would be,at least this modification is an improvement over the OpenOffice.org code's behavior of not saving anything.

Can you install the following test patch and tell us if your EPS images now show up as bitmap images in any .doc or .docx files that you save?:

Intel:
http://sally.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.2.1-Patch-4-Test-6-Intel.dmg

Patrick

[pluby]

If no new crashing bugs are found, we plan on releasing NeoOffice 3.2.1 Patch 5 within the next couple of weeks and that patch will include the new code that exports a 300 DPI bitmap image of any EPS images in your document when saving to .doc or .docx files.

Can you install the following test patch and tell us if the EPS images are preserves as bits when you save an .odt file to a .doc or .docx file?:

Intel:
http://sally.neooffice.org/test/NeoOffice-3.2.1-Patch-4-pre-5-test-Intel.dmg

Patrick

[pluby]

FYI. I have included the new code that exports a 300 DPI bitmap image of any EPS images in your document when saving to .doc or .docx files in NeoOffice 3.2.1 Patch 5. You can download the patch from the NeoOffice 3.2.1 patch download page.

Patrick