Fuzzy images in Word output (on screen view)

[Dave1975]

Hi everyone,

I found several posts related to fuzzy images, but they were mostly about PDF output and/or real printed output, so before registering a ticket at Madcap Support I would like to run this issue by this group first.

Due to the requirements of several customers I need to be able to produce Word output of our web application's user manual. The customers need to be able to reuse and integrate the data, meaning it should be editable. It's mainly to be viewed on screen, so not in print.

There are a number of limitations to Flare's Word output and I manage to deal with them one way or the other. One thing I don't seem to be able to handle is the poor quality of output screenshots. Images that are crispy and sharp when inputting them come out fuzzy and unsharp in the Word output.

I tried to stick to all rules I read on this forum:

• Take the screenshot in the browser at 100% zoom

• Do all resizing (if any) in image processing tool (Snagit in my case)

• Do not add any classes or other means of formatting in Flare

• Do not use the option to generate copies of scaled images

• Use lossless format (PNG)

• I also tried taking the screenshots through the Chrome DEV tools options after setting up a custom device with the same resolution as my monitor (display resolution 1920px x 1080px), 96 DPI

When I then do the output to Word, the screenshots are fuzzy, no matter which zoom level I view them at. If I manually insert the same original images afterwards into that same Word document and compare them to the versions Flare outputted, they are perfectly crispy at any zoom level.

I can only conclude that even if take the screenshot at the correct size and do not set anything to control these images in Flare through CSS, they are still being somehow rescaled during the build.

FYI: I tested PDF output, which is better but not great either. I can export to Word through Acrobat which kind of solves the issue of the fuzzy images, but any editing in the document afterwards is a nightmare and can seriously mess up the layout which means it's not a valid alternative in my case.

Please let me know if there is anything I might have overlooked or if I'm making the wrong assumptions.

Many thanks!

grtz

Dave

[trent the thief]

Hi Dave,

I believe the culprit is Word is automatically resampling the images. It's a feature.

If you compare your originals and the images you pull out of the unzipped docx, I'll bet you a nickel that Word compressed the daylights out of them.

[Dave1975]

Hi Trent,

I'm using the option to have the images embedded in the Word output. If I right click on any of the images in the Word doc I can only view the size (in cm) of the original and the scaled image and there seems to be only very little to no difference (see example attached).

If I don't use the embed option the images in the separate output folder haven't changed either.
Not sure what you mean by the "unzipped docx".

thanks

Dave

[trent the thief]

Make a copy of the docx file and add the .zip extension. You can then open it in 7z or WinZip and see all the content.

The path in the clip is standard. All the files you add to Word are in that directory. Unfortunately, word drops the original filename. I find unzipping is the fastest, easiest way to get images out of Word.

In Word, set Options > Advanced > Image Size and Quality. Select what to included (I use All New Documents) and select Do not compress images in file.

That alone might fix the image issues in the word output. FYI, that drop-down always reverts to the default since it allows you to make the setting either for only for the current doc or for All new docs.