Setting no compression of images on Word 2007; Comparison of test print of all inner content images on Laser Printer with Paperback book copy; Next step for Paperback book

Last updated on 24th May 2019

I created a test PDF file of 35 pages of A5 size which has all the inner content images.

To do that, I first created a copy of the paperback Word document file which was used to generate PDF submitted to Pothi.com as paperback book inner contents, and which was used by Pothi.com & its printer-partner to print paperback book copy.

How to change Word 2007 default setting of compressing images to 220 ppi, to no compression of images

How to turn off image compression in Word, https://blogs.mtu.edu/gradschool/2011/04/06/turn-off-image-compression-in-word/ explains how to turn image compression off in Word 2007 but the particular options descirbed were not available in my Word 2007 program (installation).

But the way to access this compression of images setting dialog described in the following link worked in my Word 2007 program (installation): Word: Reduce large image sizes with picture compression, https://cybertext.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/word-reduce-large-image-sizes-with-picture-compression/.

Essentially when one either inserts an image or clicks on an image in Word (2007), Picture Tools -> Format command gets added to the Menu Commands just below the Title bar. Clicking Picture Tools->Format shows a list of toolbar command-icons. Clicking 'Compress Pictures' in the Adjust group of command-icons, opens up a Compress Pictures dialog box. Clicking Options on it, leads to another dialog box, where by default, "Automatically perform basic compression on save" is checked! And for this checked state, by default the compression is set to option of Print (220 ppi).

This has to be changed. Uncheck the "Automatically perform basic compression on save". Press OK to return to higher level dialog. By default there, the "Apply to selected pictures only" checkbox is unchecked (meaning that it should apply to all pictures in document that are newly inserted, I guess). Leave that option as unchecked and click OK on that dialog box.

Now Word will NOT compress pictures to 220 ppi for any newly inserted pics. But old pics may have already been compressed! So all old pics should be deleted and then replaced again with pics from disk/other storage type where it is in 300 DPI or above format. Now these new pics will not get compressed when the document is saved.

Deletion and re-insertion of images

Word 2007 default compression of 220 ppi was avoided. All images were re-inserted with no compression setting being made, to ensure that 300 DPI images do not get compressed to 220 ppi. The Word document size increased as compared to earlier version where Word default setting of compression to 220 ppi was on.

Pages with images in this TestPrint Word document (TestPrint-AllInnerContentPics-NoCompr-OfPaperbackBook.docx) have been retained with some text being deleted (and little text commenting about image being scanned or not ... being added). All other pages were deleted. So from 297 pages of inner content, the test document file eventually got reduced to only 35 pages.

Some of the grayscale images in this TestPrint document are from camera (e.g. Thuravoor Narayana prinicpal name board, Krishna, Sathya Sai, japamala), some are jpgs that I got (mother-father pics), and some are scanned images using HP scanner with Gray and 300 DPI settings (passport pics, appreciation letters, experience letters, California driving license, one passport size pic - perhaps mid 1990s one, BSc passing cert, school leaving cert, birth card (Suchak hospital)).

Finally the laser printer TestPrint pdf file (TestPrint-AllInnerContentPics-NoCompr-OfPaperbackBook.pdf) was generated from this TestPrint Word document using Print To PDF command. Note that all images in the Word document are non-compressed 300 DPI Grayscale images and so I expect that the PDF TestPrint document too will have the same 300 DPI Grayscale images in suitable form.

In the evening on 21st May 19, I got this 35 page TestPrint PDF file printed in A5 size on A4 pages. Laser printer (of Puttaparthi shop) used was the same Canon PCL5e mentioned in previous related post, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/05/letter-pics-taken-by-low-cost-phone.html.

Observations on comparison of this TestPrint Laser Printer printout with Paperback book copy

1. Mother-Father pics (got as jpgs from elsewhere) print badly on Laser Printer (lots of dark shades). Paperback book print is much better.

2. Camera pics (e.g. Thuravoor Narayana prinicpal name board, BSc degree, Krishna, Sathya Sai, japamala) print badly on Laser printer (lots of dark shades). Paperback book print is much better.

3. Scanned pics of passport, school leaving cert, birth card and California driving license print with some amount or sometimes lot of dark shades on laser printer. Paperback book print for these pics are that of camera pics and my quick impression is that they are better than the laser printer printed pics. But one cannot make a proper comparison as of now. After the next paperback copy is printed with these scanned grayscale images of passport pages and other pics mentioned earlier, a comparison can be made. I think that as the scanned image display on LCD monitor significantly improves upon quality of camera taken image, the modified paperback book with scanned images of passport pages and other pics mentioned earlier, replacing the camera images, will print these images better than in current paperback print copy.

4. Scanned grayscale pics of appreciation letters, experience letters and B.Sc. passing certificate print with much better quality on Laser printer than camera pics of them in paperback book. I am quite sure that paperback book printing of these scanned grayscale pics will be as good if not better than laser printer output quality.

5. All passport pics have got printed with dark edge or edges. I plan to crop the dark edge(s) out of scanned passport pics before inserting them into modified paperback inner contents book Word document. [Update: Later I felt I should not remove the dark edge(s) and so did not change these pics.]

6. After seeing the dark shades in some pics on printout, the Puttaparthi shop guy told me that his Laser Printer prints in darker print (than normal, I presume).

Next step for paperback book

In the paperback book Word 2007 document (after making a copy of it, of course) that I had used to create the PDF that I submitted to Pothi.com for generating paperback book inner content, I plan to change settings in Word to not compress images on save. Then I will delete and re-insert all the pics in the Word document. Whenever I have a scanned grayscale 300 DPI pic, I will use that instead of the earlier camera pic. But if only camera pic is available for some pics, I will re-insert the same camera grayscale 300 DPI pic from disk.

I have the option of getting high quality pics using a professional photo studio guy for B.Sc. degree, Krishna, Sathya Sai and Japamala pics, instead of my low-cost smartphone pics. Note that I cannot use the Puttaparthi shop scanner for these pics (the B.Sc. degree pic is too big for his scanner). But I think the quality of the print in the paperback book copy for these pics is decent. So I plan to avoid spending time on engaging the professional photo studio guy.

Then I will generate a PDF file from the Word document using Print To PDF option. I will re-submit this PDF to Pothi.com as my modified paperback inner contents document (book).

I have slightly better color images of the pics of me used in the cover page, as I took color scanned images of all the documents (at 300 DPI). I will explore the possibility of redoing the cover page with these pics.

Also, I think I will explore GIMP software's ability to remove some patches in my "Around 1989" pic used in the cover page.
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Terry Reis Kennedy wrote over email: Great! Keep up the diligent work. I admire what you are doing. Really. Sai Ram. Terry
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I (Ravi) responded:
Thanks Terry for your encouraging words

I am putting up these public log-posts of how I am handling issues faced in printing this book, as I think that may benefit others in future. It will also serve as a record for me to refer back in case I face similar printing problems in future and have forgotten how I handled them in the past.
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Terry responded (in part):
I appreciate that....the saving.
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24th May 2019 Update: I did all the above mentioned steps and uploaded the book and cover page on 22nd evening. On 23rd it got accepted and on that day itself I placed an order for 1 paperback copy.