# Converting Images using MS Picture Manager

Prepared: 06/11/02

Revised (lg): 05/15/07

One of the most frustrating factors when creating documents with
electronic images is the large file size which often results. You should
never insert the image in its original size, and then resize it in your
document. This is most commonly due to using large file size images in
the document. Converting the image file to a medium-high resolution JPEG
file is one way to cut down on file size, but this can compromising
image quality. It is best to resize the size dimension of the image
first, and then reduce resolution if necessary. MS Picture Manager
provides an easy way to accomplish this.

## **Making sure MS Picture Manager is installed**

-   Photo Editor is part of the MS Office 2003 Professional software
    package that comes with most USDA computers. It should already be
    installed all CCE computers. To check if you have it installed go to
    Start  All Programs  Microsoft Office  Microsoft Office Tools 
    Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

-   If MS Picture Manager is not installed on your computer, but you
    have other components of MS Office 2003 Pro, you will need the
    Office 2003 CD and install the missing MS Picture Manager program.
    You will need Administrator privileges on your computer to do this
    and may need to contact your state IT staff to have this done for
    you.

## **Bringing images into Picture Manager**

-   If the image is saved as a Bitmap (.bmp), TIFF (.tif), JPEG (.jpg),
    GIF (.gif), or other format, you can open the file through Picture
    Manager. Go to File \| Locate Pictures \| and locate the file on
    your computer.

-   If the image is already in a Word document, PowerPoint presentation,
    Publisher file, etc. you can copy and paste the image into Picture
    Manager. Open the document which has the image you want. Left click
    on the image you want to select it. Then right-click on the image
    and select "Copy". Go into Picture Manager. Select Edit \|Paste.
    This will paste the image you just copied into Picture Manager.

## 

## **Resize the Image in Picture Manager.**

-   Once the picture is opened in Picture Manager, highlight the picture
    and go to Edit Picture \| Resize.

-   There are three options here to resize the image, Predefined \|
    Custom \| Percentage. Reduce the image size as close to the actual
    size of the intended use.

-   Note: Never reduce the image smaller than the intended size and
    increase the dimensions later. This will result in a loss of
    quality, and increases the risk of altering and distorting the
    image.

-   Reduce the image size by either choosing a percentage, E.g. 50% is
    half the size of the original, or choose a new measurement for
    either height or width. Picture Manager automatically rescales the
    other measurement. Choose the best option to suit your needs.

-   There are many other things you can do in Picture Manager, like crop
    the image, adjust colors, balance, and contrast, etc. It is best
    just to try different things to see what works. It is very difficult
    though to improve the quality of a poor image.

-   Always make sure that you start with a good image. Scan 35mm slides
    and take digital pictures at a high resolution. You can always
    decrease resolution but you can never dramatically improve
    resolution or quality. Note: Never reduce the resolution lower than
    300 dpi for images that will be professionally printed.

-   If you have first reduced the image dimensions to the size you would
    like, and the file size is still too large, you can then reduce the
    resolution. Picture Manager does not have an option to reduce
    resolution. It only offers a compression option. If you have Adobe
    Photoshop you can resize and reduce the resolution.

Note: Compress Pictures in MS Picture Manager is not advised, if the
purpose for the image is to be used in printed documents. It is however,
adequate to send images via email or to be used for the web. If you are
emailing pictures for the purpose of being used in a publication or in a
printed document, you should use a zip utility.

If you are sending the image via email for viewing purposes only, the
following option will suit that purpose.

**Compress Pictures using Picture Manager**

-   MS Picture Manager, highlight the image. Go to Edit Pictures \|
    Compress Pictures. Choose how you will be using the image. Documents
    \| Web Pages \| Email.

-   Note: The description for each option and the estimated file size
    will appear when you choose each option.

**Reduce Resolution/Image Size Using Adobe Photoshop**

-   If you have Adobe Photoshop, you can reduce image resolution by
    choosing Image \| Size. Adobe Photoshop has the option to reduce
    both image dimension size and the resolution size.

**Assign Image Properties and Save**

-   When you are finished, save the image. Close out of Picture Manager.
    Locate the image, highlight the image to select it, then Right Click
    \| Properties. This will open the properties dialog window.

-   On the general tab, you can rename the file if necessary to better
    identify it.

-   Then go to the Summary Tab. The summary contains information boxes
    that you should filled in.

-   In the Title: Enter name of image.

-   Subject: Enter subject or purpose of image.

-   Author: Enter the Photographer

-   Summary: Enter summary information or caption information.

-   Key words: Enter key words or terms separated by commas.

Note: This final step in the process is necessary to assist in the
creation of documents and publications that will meet Section 508
standards. When you are done making modifications the next and most
important step is to save your image.

-   Go to File \| Save As

-   At the box for "Save as type" choose JPEG File Interchange Format.

-   Click on the "More\>\>" box at the bottom of the window. This allows
    you to change the JPEG quality factor to adjust the file size. This
    also allows you to change the image from color to grayscale if you
    want to.

-   If you started out with a high resolution image you can down-sample
    the quality to as low as 60 without a noticeable decrease in the
    image quality on your document. If you are unsure choose a value in
    the 75-85 range.

-   Rename the file if needed (you probably do not want to overwrite
    your original file) and choose "Save". You can then go to your Word
    document or PowerPoint presentation and insert the image into your
    file.

## **Tips to understanding this process**

-   As a general rule, JPEG files of the same TIFF file are always
    smaller. Just changing TIFF images to JPEGs can decrease the file
    size by as much as 85%. In one example I just worked on a 2.2MB TIFF
    file became a 282KB JPEG file (at a JPEG Quality Factor =100) when
    converted. Decreasing the Quality Factor to 80 decreased the file
    size to 93KB. There was no obvious decrease in print quality when
    the '80" JPEG was printed next to the original TIFF.

-   When you resize an oversized image, you are cutting down on the file
    size as well. If you were to insert the "un-resized" photo into Word
    and then resize it in Word, there is no savings in file size.

-   I have taken many documents prepared by Plant Materials staff which
    had very large file sizes and made them more manageable using this
    process. This was done by copying the images out of Word and into
    Picture Manager and saving as a JPEG file, then re-inserting the new
    image to replace the old one.

-   Word files are often decreased from 8-10MB down to 1-2MB, which is
    much more manageable to e-mail, post on the web, save on your hard
    drive, etc. Large Word files lead to large PDF files when we are
    preparing documents for the web. An 8-10MB Word doc will result in a
    PDF about 3MB in size. A 1-2MB Word file will result in a 300-700KB
    PDF file. For web site users on slow Internet connection a smaller
    file size and quicker download makes our information easier to get.