Importing into MS Office
 

I constantly have to insert OG graphics into MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint), which files I then share with corporate users living in the Windows world (i.e. users who typically don't have QuickTime installed).

Which copy-type and/or export-option should I use to keep the OG graphs visible [B]and[/B] in best quality (e.g. exporting from OG/importing into MS Word in pdf resulted into a clear loss of quality)? Does anybody know about 'official' best practice recommendations on Omni's sites?

Thanks for any hint.
Be.

There is no clear answer, I'm afraid. If you use Microsoft Office 2008, you can actually use PDF; this particular area has been greatly improved with the upgrade. Note, though, that there is a bug in Word that results in a fuzzy display of PDF files if you *drag* them into the document; if, however, you use Insert>Picture>From File, the display is flawless. EPS should also work now, but I haven't tested this yet.

If you are using a version prior to 2008, however, you will need to use a different format. For best picture quality, use TIFF, but do keep in mind that TIFF files are really large and tend to cause the file size to balloon. A more practical solution that is also cross-platform is PNG; just export your diagram in a resolution that is high enough (300 dpi is usually more than sufficient, unless you need a high-res version for advanced printing options).

I'm sure others will be able to tell you of their own experiences.

Actually, I use Office v.X and I've never had any problems using Insert>Picture to place Omnigraffle-created PDFs in Word documents.

I did an, albeit simple, diagram for a student of mine who uses Word 2003 on PC. I exported as EPS with DOS Tiff ... she said it imported perfectly well, but I don't know if she has printed it and whether there might be any glitches there.

Mark

Edit: by the way, this is OGPro 5 ... I don't know if you have the DOS Tiff option with OG or with earlier versions.

@Angostura:
What happens if you change the image by resizing it? Do you notice any effect on the quality of the PDF file?

@xiamenese:
Word for Windows has notoriously been better at handling EPS files than Word:mac. In Word 2004, for instance, it was extremely difficult to place an EPS file into Word and get it to print properly. This may have changed in Word 2008 as well; I haven't really had the time to experiment.

Question... even though Microsoft Word 2008 will import PDF files exported from OmniGraffle, will the text still be live?

The text should be using the embedded fonts and therefore scalable (as opposed to rasterizing them into pixels), but if by "live" you mean editable then that's up to Word 2008 as to whether it can do that or not.

Copy & Past Defaults
 

Hi,

I'm trying out Omni Graffle and do this a lot too. There are the "Copy As" options but they always default to settings that lose a lot of quality when pasting into word.

Is there a way to change the settings of these options? Such as set the default resolution of "Copy As -> TIFF" to 300 dpi?

As has been mentioned, these TIFFs can also greatly increase the file size of the Word doc. Is it possible to copy as a JPEG?

Thanks,
Tim