Mac Mojo: The Office for Mac Team Blog

Comment from elliot: Jan 15, 2008; 6:22 PM
I am a scientist and I produce a lot of vector-based graphics. […] For the last many years (since OS X has arrived) PDF is the default vector-based graphics format. PowerPoint and Word imported these but automatically transformed the in the raster format PNG. […] What about Office 2008? […] It must be possible to import PDFs without translating them in something else? Please say yes!

@elliot: Yes!

Office 2008 for Mac imports and renders PDF images in all their native glory, vector-based or otherwise. This level of support is new, so for Windows Office or earlier versions of Mac Office, we save a PNG representation of each PDF image side-by-side with that PDF image. If the document, spreadsheet, or presentation is opened in Windows Office or an earlier version of Mac Office, then the PNG is rendered. If the file is opened in Office 2008 for Mac, we render the native PDF.

Single-page PDF documents import directly as native PDF images. When importing from any multiple-page PDF document, the user is prompted to select a single page. A dialog displays a large preview of the PDF document one page at a time; you can scroll through the PDF document in this dialog or jump to a specific page. When the desired page is selected, click “Insert” and that page is inserted as a single-page PDF image.

Of course, any PDF can contain raster as well as vector data. A raster-based PDF will be subject to any limitations imposed by that format. If you use the Paste Special command to paste a raster-based image as PDF then a raster-based PDF is pasted.

There are a handful of image manipulation operations in Office 2008 for Mac that will rasterize a vector-based PDF. The effects in the Image Effects dialog (Formatting Palette | Picture | Effects…) always replace the original image, in this case PDF, with a PNG. Duotone image recoloring (e.g.: Accent Color 1 Dark, et al.) also rasterizes PDF images, though Grayscale, Sepia, Contrast, Brightness, and Transparency effects do not. Finally, using a PDF image as a 3D texture will cause that image to be rasterized.

File size is obviously a concern since we’re storing PDF and PNG data side-by-side for compatibility. We chose a DPI setting for our PNGs that we think balances well between file size and cross-platform fidelity, though you may find that print outs and other vector-based renderings look better using Office 2008 for Mac than using other version of Microsoft Office. We also suggest that you manipulate vector-based PDF images using Office 2008 for Mac when you can (as opposed to other versions of Microsoft Office) to help minimize or eliminate potential rasterization effects.

Finally, password protected PDF documents are not supported, though vector-based EPS are now supported through the Apple-provided PostScript-to-PDF API.

Hope this helps!

Posted by: Blair Neumann in Office

15 Comments

Comments | Who's Blogging This

[Chris]

Chris

Jan 31, 2008

1:17pm

Drag and drop from Finder is inconsistent

I'm very pleased to hear that you've finally started to catch up with other Mac apps

After playing a little with the new Office in an Apple Store, I found that you can drag PDF files from Finder into Excel and Powerpoint OK, and they stay as vectors, but if you drag them into Word they get rasterized.

Inserting pictures from a file in Word does retain all the vector goodness.

[Macmaniac]

Macmaniac

Feb 24, 2008

10:29pm

Animation Factory

Animations from this vendor don't work in slide show. Help
DH

[sl]

Jan 31, 2008

1:17pm

brilliant!

just to say that's brilliant news, this will be really useful for me, the ability to store PDFs inside word files with full fidelity.

glad to see that there are more mac-first features in office 2008, just as office 2004 was first with the transparent graphics!

next step is to convince the windows office developers to do the same =)

[Smith]

Smith

Jan 31, 2008

1:17pm

Re: Can we import pdf vector-based graphics?

Apparently, PowerPoint 2008, by default, pastes a raster image. To paste vector-based PDF, users need to use the Paste Special command and choose PDF.

Unlike PowerPoint, Word and Excel 2008, by default, paste vector-based PDF. So no need to use the Paste Special command.

Is it intentional? Will MS change it so that vector-based PDF is pasted by default in PowerPoint 2008 too?

Another question. In older versions of Office Mac it was possible to ungroup vector-based PICT files pasted or imported to Office. However, it does not seem possible now to ungroup vector-based PDF in Office 2008. Will MS make it possible? Any workaround for now?

[joecmaclean]

joecmaclean

Jan 31, 2008

1:17pm

Entourage/iPhone issue

I have been happy with the 2008 upgrade but I am still having a problem wherein iPhone events will not sync to Entourage (although visible in iCal). Tried to get support but Microsoft (and Apple for that matter) support person referred me to Apple (and Apple referred me to Microsoft). Just looking for recognition of the issue and that Apple and Microsoft need to get this sorted out.

[Daniel]

Daniel

Jan 31, 2008

1:17pm

Office 2008 for Mac & Office Live

Does the new version of MS Office for the mac integrate seamlessly (and the same as via a Windows PC) with Office Live?

[L., Ray]

Ray L.

Jan 31, 2008

1:17pm

SVG graphics

Hi folks,

This is good news, thanks! Another vector-based question: do you have any support (Mac or Windows Office) for SVG graphics?

If not, do you know of a handy SVG-to-WMF (or EMF) converter? We generate SVG and would like to be able to copy and paste that into a Word document.

-Ray

[froggie]

froggie

Jan 31, 2008

1:20pm

SVG graphics

Hi folks,

Don't know if this question registered, as I didn't have an account before, so here it is again...

Thanks for this new feature (PDF import) in Office. Another vector-graphics question: does Office handle SVG graphics in any way? Alternatively, is there a convenient SVG-to-EMF converter? We produce graphics in SVG and would like our users to be able to cut-and-paste to Word.

Thanks,

-Ray

[WT]

Jan 31, 2008

1:20pm

Re: Re: Can we import pdf vector-based graphics?

I can not find anywhere how to order the 2008 media kit. We are an Enterprise agreement customer and need the SKU to get the media to upgrade from 2004. Does anyone know what it is?

[Joe]

Joe

Jan 31, 2008

1:20pm

What About Track Changes & Metadata Removal?

Dear for Mac Crew:

I'm patiently waiting for my long-delayed copy of Office '08. OK, I'm not really patient, but I am waiting.

One thing I can find ZERO information on, is how you all treated the Track Changes feature of Office for Mac. As a government lawyer, I am constantly editing other people's documents. The track changes feature is indespensible. Unfortunately, the Mac implementation of this has been crippled compared with Office for Windows.

Since Office 2003 in Windows, users have had the the ability to use Balloons "only for comments and formatting." On the Mac, it was either on or off. It's essential that my changes be shown in redline strikethrough in the actual text, while my comments simultaneously show up in balloons. I've only been able to do that on Windows. Hopefully it's implemented in the Mac version. If not, please do it in a .x build.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, is the ability to remove Metadata in a metadata removal tool. The Windows version has had this ability, although somewhat primitively, for some time. The new version of Office for Windows has a very robust tool. What about the Mac? Without a comprehensive metadata removal tool that tells me exactly what hidden data is in my document and gives me the ability to remove that hidden data, the Mac version is effectively useless to me.

So, hopefully you'll read this and get a chance to cover these subjects i future blog entries!

Sincerely,
Joe

[Jesse]

Jesse

Feb 01, 2008

6:45pm

This is all fine and good

But I can't enjoy the feature in Powerpoint because it crashes repeadedly - on several different Macs. I've researched this all over the place and taken every step I could think of to fix to no avail.

[hethurr]

hethurr

Feb 01, 2008

6:45pm

Super Suite Deal

I haven't received any confirmation from Microsoft, have seen on other message boards that some have. How will I know when the product ships?

[Robert]

Robert

Feb 04, 2008

10:44pm

Paste Excel Table as PDF into word doc rastorizes

If I cut an image from a non-office app like OmniGraffle, the image stays in its vector form and a full page flow chart adds a couple hundred Kbytes to the word document. If however, I past a 1/2 page table from excel 2008 containing only border lines and text, the file size grows by the better part of a megabyte and looks lousy on the screen. Why can't a copy operation in Excel grab a vectorized pdf into the past buffer?

[Tilenius, Eric]

Eric Tilenius

Feb 04, 2008

10:53pm

But Entourage still doesn't support HTML fully

This is nice news, but please focus on Entourage. You cannot even forward or reply to complex HTML in the new version! You cannot cut and paste from a web page into a new email.

The lack of support for HTML

Please keep in mind that for Exchange users, we are using Entourage maybe 30 hours a week. That's my # 1 application!

Mac users are not all "creatives" who just deal with graphics.

Please give us the basics and focus on Entourage -- the ability to support complex HTML composition in the Entourage editor is a CRITICAL component of what's needed in the next release!

Thanks...

[mo, lui]

lui mo

Feb 05, 2008

12:30am

Avi Files

Hello there... hope you guys can help me!!!
I have a Macmini with no DVD burner:
What my options are to transfer AVI files to windows to back up???