Re: Making letterhead template where users can customize only the letter.

If I may be so presumptuous as to extend on one point in Elliott's most
comprehensive reply...

Please substitute the term "Insert> Picture> From File" for what he refers
to as "place". If you *paste* the content in it will be converted to a PICT
graphic which the PC can't display so it will generate an EMF. This not only
contributes to the "blurry" effect but will bloat the file because it will
retain *both* the PICT & the EMF.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 4/12/08 10:36 AM, in article 120420081536584710%nospam@xxxxxxxxx,
"Elliott Roper" <nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <ee98313.-1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<UniversityDesigner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)

Trying to make our standard University letterhead as a template in Word so
that users across campus can type their own letters into it, save the doc as
a pdf, and attach the pdf to e-mails. The catch is, I want the contact info,
university logo, and other verbiage to be unalterable including their
position on the page.

The original letterhead is in CS3 InDesign. I saved it (wthout a composed
letter) as a hi-res 8.5 x 11 pdf and inserted in a Word doc. Put a text box
over top for the letter. Works great on my Mac but the inserted pdf looks
blurry and low-res when supplied to someone on a PC using the latest Word.

Any ideas why the image is blurry or what a better approach would be?

You are kinda on the right track, but it looks like 2008 has the same
misfeatures in this regard as 2004.

First off. Lose the text box. That is the work of the devil. Place the
letterhead in the header. It does not matter that it covers the whole
page.

Then there are two workarounds, neither satisfactory.

1. Export the letterhead as an eps with tiff preview from InDesign.
1b Place it in header section of Word's template
1c Explain to the user that it will look OK when done (because Word
shows them the scungy preview AND uses the preview on print to PDF - at
least it did in Office 2004. From what you say it has not improved)
1d Require the user to print to postscript then use OS X's preview.app
to convert to PDF, then mail that.
Pro: Perfect quality. Con: Obviously inconvenient. The determined user
can fiddle with the eps via Illy or whatever.

2. Export the letterhead as a tiff from InDesign.
2b Place it in header section of Word's template
2c Explain to the user that it is as good as it gets
Pro: Simple to use. Cons: Huge files, Too pixelly for the pernickety.
(Word barfs or at best downsamples > 300dpi)
Don't even think about using jpg, png or pict. Word has a "Pooches for
Sure" contract out on those. Tiff is the only reliable cross-platform
image format once Office gets involved.

It is utterly unbelievable that MS *still* doesn't understand a simple
concept of documents like yours needing to arrive unscathed across
e-mail.

OK. *You* know that. That is why you make your users send PDF.

It ain't just PDF and eps in headers. It's fonts and margins and
pagination too. Not to mention no cross-platform macros to support
forms and stuff like that.

Please send Feedback to join mine. I have given up on Office 2008. I'm
holding out a forlorn hope that Office 2000 and mumble will be usable
again. (Be aware this newsgroup is not a Microsoft Forum. It the wild
wild Usenet with a Redmond webby land grab. Softies only read here in
their "spare time" - DO send official feedback from Word)

In the meantime, I'm slowly getting better at InDesign CS3.
Doesn't it do lovely typesetting?

.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Making letterhead template where users can customize only the letter.
    ... Trying to make our standard University letterhead as a template in Word so ... a pdf, and attach the pdf to e-mails. ... The original letterhead is in CS3 InDesign. ... letterhead in the header. ...
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