Convert MSWord Drawings & WordArt to JPGs or GIFs

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Senior Computer Tutor Logo

  1. Creating Labels & Envelopes with Word, Excel, & MSWorks
  2. Replacing NORMAL.DOT when MSWord Becomes Unstable
  3. Password Protecting Word & Excel Documents
  4. Less Complicated Word Processing Programs (Sometimes Smaller Is Better)
  5. Free Trials of MSWord 2007 & of WordPerfect Office X3
  6. Working with Special Characters:
    7. ¿ ¼ ¾ £ ¢ ® © Ñ ¥
  7. Function Keys & Keyboard Shortcuts + Dealing with the Infamous "Insert" Key
  8. Creating an Email Address Book in MSWord


    9. Pictures & Text Boxes
  9. Picture in a Text Box
  10. Placing Both Text & a Pic in a Text Box


    11. Other Document Types
  11. MSWord, Wordpad, Notepad, Google's Writely/Docs
  12. Converting Data between MSWord & PDF Files
  13. Show a Spreadsheet in PowerPoint (using Paint)
  14. Less Complicated Word Processing Programs
  15. Compatibility Issues with MSOffice 2007
  16. Free MSOffice-Compatible Programs + Accessibility Options
  17. Using a Watermark in a Document or on an Image


    18. Working with Tables & Columns
  18. Dividing a Page into Columns
  19. Lining Up Numbers in a Column
  20. Tips on Sorting (Alphabetizing), Paragraph Spacing, & Using MSWord Tables


    21. Bullets & Page Numbering
  21. Using AutoCorrect for Bullets & Numbering
  22. Add Page Numbering to a Word Processing Document
  23. Convert CAPS to lower case (& vice versa)


    24. Telling a Story with Your PC
  24. Creating a Newsletter
  25. MSWord Paragraph Formatting
  26. Sending a Family/Holiday Newsletter
  27. Writing Your Memoirs — Do It Yourself or Use a Ghostwriter?


    28. Backing Up Word Files
  28. Automatic Backup of MSWord Documents
  29. Temp Files with Cryptic Names + Various Save Options in MSWord

My Favorite Webmail Service

I try to maintain an account with all the major webmail services so I can answer questions from readers who use them. However, my favorite is definitely Google's Gmail, since it has several features not offered by most of the others.

For instance, you can have all your incoming Gmail messages copied to an Outlook Express Inbox.

Log onto your Gmail account and click on "Settings." Next, click "Forwarding & POP," and follow the prompts.

Gmail also has an "auto-response" feature. Log onto your Gmail account, click on "Vacation Settings," and follow the prompts.

Another thing I like about Gmail is the fact that messages and replies to those messages are grouped together in a special way. This may take a little getting used to, but it can be very useful at times.

Google is also very good about filtering spam. To delete all the messages in the Spam folder, click the top item, press Shift, and click the bottom item. This will select all spam messages so that clicking "Delete Forever" will kill them all at once.


Convert MSWord Drawings & WordArt
to JPGs or GIF Files

A reader asked about turning a logo he created using MSWord's drawing tools into a JPG file. Well, any kind of a graphic that can be seen on your screen can be converted into a JPG by using your PrtScr (Print Screen) key. Pressing the key causes everything visible on your monitor to be copied as a graphic to the Windows clipboard.

Next open an image-editing program such as Windows Paint, Adobe Photoshop, or my favorite for cropping pictures, Irfanview (free from www.irfanview.com). Then use Edit>Paste to insert the copied graphic into the image-editor.

Any graphic pasted into Irfanview is automatically in the "crop mode," meaning all you need do is draw a box around the logo with your left mouse button depressed, followed by doing Edit>Cut and Edit>Paste to display the cropped artwork. Finally, do File>Save As, give the logo a name, and choose JPG from the "Save As Type" options.

Personally, though, I prefer saving logos as GIF files, since JPGs can be unintenionally degraded with subsequent copying. GIFs remain constant. However, GIFs are limited to 256 colors, but this is usually adequate for a logo.

In any case, it's important to understand that images captured with your PrtScr key will have a DPI (dots per inch) resolution equal to your monitor's DPI. This may vary from 72 to 100+ DPI, which is fine for subsequent computer displays, but a little rough when printed on paper (where 300 is often the lowest acceptable DPI).


In fact, when using MSWord's drawing tools and fonts to create a logo, consider doing it at three to four times larger than the desired finished size. Then you can choose 300 DPI when reducing the image to its intended size with Irfanview's Image>Resize/Resample options. The screen DPI will remain the same, but a paper printout will be much sharper.

Although MSWord is ostensibly a word processor, it has many handy drawing options. In MSWord-2003 (and earlier) click on View>Toolbars>Drawing to display the Drawing Toolbar. In MSWord-2007 click on Insert>Shapes to display a collection of triangles, ovals, stars, and other geometric shapes, which, when chosen, can be resized and reproportioned in many useful ways.

You can also choose WordArt, which lets you convert words and phrases into stylish designs. Here are some quickie examples:

WordArt Samples


MSWord Error Message: Cannot Read from Source Drive

Bill Johnson wrote that he decided to free up some space by deleting a number of MSWord documents. After finding them via Start>Search>All Files & Folders and typing in .doc, he backed them up to an external hard drive. However, when he did Edit>Select All and tried to delete the files he got the following message: "Cannot delete. Cannot read from source drive."

Well, different things can trigger this message — but the usual culprit is an open MSWord file. Yes, it's OK to have MSWord open, but any currently active file cannot be deleted (or edited in any other way) and it only takes one such file in a selected group to keep them all from being deleted.


© Donald Ray Edrington — All Rights Reserved

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