How to Convert Word Documents Into Images (jpg, png, gif, tiff)
Need to convert your Word Document (or part of it) into an image? Microsoft Word itself has a function that will allow you to do so. Versions 2007 and better allow you to convert documents into images using 'paste special' and you will have the option to convert into jpeg, jpg, png and other formats of your choice.
This method is very simple and yields reasonable quality with a high resolution, which is much better than other doc-to-image converters available online. What's more, you have the option of converting any document into any type of graphic: jpg, tiff, png, or gif file format.
So stop wasting any of your time and money searching for scam converters when you can create an image without one using the following easy steps:
- Select what you'd like to save as an image.
- Copy your selection.
- Open a new document.
- Paste special.
- Select "Picture."
- Right click the resulting image and select "Save as Picture."
- Select your desired format from the dropdown menu.
The instructions below will walk you through each step.
1: Select What You'd Like to Save as an Image
If you would like to turn your entire document into an image, select all. You can do this by:
- Typing Ctrl+A on a PC.
- Typing command+A on a Mac.
- Or selecting "Edit">"Select All" from the menu.
If you would only like to turn parts of your document into an image, select those objects with your cursor.
2: Copy Your Selection
Copy your selection. You can do this by:
- Typing Ctrl+C on a PC.
- Typing command+C on a Mac.
- Right-clicking the selection and selecting "copy."
- Or clicking on the copy icon in the standard toolbar.
3: Open New Document
Open a new blank Word document. (This is where your selection will be pasted as an image.)
4: Paste Special
In the Home tab, go to paste options by clicking on the downward arrow at the bottom of the button, then click on "paste special" as shown in the picture above. Alternately, you can select "edit">"paste special."
5: Select "Picture"
In the paste-special window, select "Picture (Enhanced Metafile)," as shown in the picture above, and click "OK."
An image of what you copied will be pasted in the document.
6: Right-Click and Select "Save as Picture"
Right-click on your new image and select "Save as Picture." To right-click on a Mac, hold the control key as you click.
7: Select Your Desired Format
Select your desired format from the dropdown menu and save it. You are done!
I recommend saving it as png if you want to upload it somewhere on Internet. It will give you best quality in a small-sized file.
If you Get a Black Background In the End?
If you get a black background in the final converted image after executing up till the last step, try saving the image again, as a png or tiff.
© 2012 StormsHalted
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Comments
Thanks for this post!
- Author
It will only work for a single page.
Worked great! The only thing was that when I inserted that image in mi design the quality of the png was very low.
Hi StormsHalted,
I tried and it seems it only works for single page Word file though. Is it possible to convert a multi-page Word file into a single (long) image file? Thanks!
this was SO helpful. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this tip, I have been trying for ages as I wanted to flip the text so that I could print on transfer paper but could not find a way to save my document as a picture until now - very happy person
Thank you! Very helpful, I never would've figured out the 'save as picture' step.
I tried this and its very low resolution, cannot print
I tried but it pasts only one page and not all the pages I copied what am I doing wrong?
Kind regards
Thank you so much, it really saved me the trouble of printscreening and stuff.
I don't have the "save as" picture option on my word. (Used to but don't see it now.) Any ideas?
I LOVE YOUR EXPLANATION KEEP IT UP
- Author
@Lyba:
If you are getting a black background after conversion into jpeg then try to convert into PNG or TIF instead.
Trying to do this on a new iMac and in newest version of Word and I can not save as any type of jpeg or photo file. Not sure why. I followed all steps until Paste as... Then I only have Word Doc, Formatted Text, Unformatted Text, HTML format and PDF. Any advice? Thanks
So, awesome I can finally change word to picture. Thank you for sharing this and for free.
I am still stuck with black background after trying all the recommendations you have posted. What else can I do?
It saves 6 pages to the clipboard but only pastes 1 page to the new document.
Hi,This is great up until right click and save as picture. I have a 6 page document. I did what you said about opening each page separately and pasting it into the new document. When I right click on the new document, though, it is saving only the page that my curser is on when I right click. I have tried everything. Any ideas? Thanks.
Thank you for writing this helpful article! Bless you!
Thank you! That was so simple and brilliant!
Thank you so much. I found this very useful.
Way to Go My Friend! You answered a very obscure question regarding converting my Excel 2010 file. Thank you so much!!!
I have gone to several websites asking about this, and all the others were either going "Take a screenshot! Herp deerp!" or trying to push pay-to-use subscription based software.
I didn't even know you could paste the contents of a document as an image. I actually learned something about MS-Word today!
This is awesome, I didn't believe even as i got done.
Thanks
How to make documents from image in excel..
THANK YOU! Worked wonderfully and when I got the black background you were there again! Doing a huge party and would never have figured this out! Once I got in the groove it took no time at all! Appreciate google search too!
Worked like a charm! Thanks!
thank you. it is very useful
This is what I see...no option for picture??? Everything else has worked seamlessly as instructed. Why am I missing two fields at this point?
This is fine for a small number of pages. Is there a solution that works well for a long document?
So easy. Thanks!
I can't find the edit drop down option on my tool bar?
This does not work for Windows 10. On step # 6, when I right click the drop down shows cut, copy, paste, grouping, order, and so on, but no "save as picture." I've wasted an hour of my life trying to get this to work.
Dude, you are awesome! You saved me big time.
- Author
Update:
If you are getting a black background after conversion into jpeg then try to convert into PNG or TIF instead.
awesome trick. Saved my day. Thank You.
Thank you so much. I thought there had to be a way but no-one else would tell me!!!
Thank you, thank you! I used adobe to convert my doc to an image, but the quality wasn't all that great. The image created this way looks awesome, and was easy to do with your clear directions. I appreciate it!
You are my savour. Thank you so much for the clear and easy to follow instructions and its FREE....
You beauty!!! This has been the stress of my life and this has just made things SO much easier! I cannot thank you enough.... No downloading, just free advice. Thank you!
Lee
Thank you so much, StormsHalted! Your instructions are clear and simple to follow for newbies like me... I'm so grateful!!!
unfortunately, there is no option to "save picture as" in step six. this is for word 2007. any other suggestions? thanks.
I've followed the steps exactly but when I open the final saved documents all I get is a completely black document - no image/content at all. Have reepeated the steps several times with the same result - what am I doing wrong? thx R.
Thank you StormsHalted, and to all others who offered useful comments and suggestions! This process resolved a problem I had been struggling with off and on over several days! Very well written and laid out.
And let me offer a "boo! hiss!" to the commenters who had problems but wouldn't even reply to @StormsHalted's followups. Yeesh! Some people! Getting indignant or even bitchy about free help.
To end on a positive note -- thank you once again, and best success in all future endeavors!
Thank you so much
An excellent solution.
Good job. You helped to end my headache. Everything worked perfectly every step of the way.
Awesome, totally worked, thank you!
- Author
You will have to select each page individually and then convert it. You can do it easily within 10 minutes for 05 pages.
I wish it were that simple. I have a 5 page document & the method above only captures the 1st page, no matter how I set the margins.
I have tried converting to PDF and then to JPEG and it cuts of the top and the edges. I have tried SnipIt and other ScreenShot programs and they take one page and that is all.
Yes, I selected the ENTIRE document.
Not sure if I am asking too much or I have some setting wrong, but I have spent over 5 hours trying to get this done. :-(
Thanks for the lesson
Brilliant solution to a common problem, thank you
You really assisted me to solve a problem I considered big. Many Thanks
- Author
The answer to this is - No.
Will this process allow several pages i.e. 83 page policy manual to convert to a single png?
- Author
This is the third comment about the same issue as you can see in the comments. On my PC I get a white background after the detailed process, I use windows 7 and Word 2013, It also works flawlessly on word 2016 on Mac, as you can see in the pictures.
If you can e-mail me the screenshots of your steps I will try to remove the bug and make sure my readers always get the correct method.
I'm working on a photo collage for a yearbook on word and I hadn't found a way of saving the collage as a jpeg without the photo quality changing until I came across your article. Thank you so much! However, how can I get rid of the black background? I'm using Windows 7.
One of the more elegant solutions I found. Thanks for your help!
Brilliant to learn something that in my brain comes from outer space!!! Thank you your a life saver xxx
- Author
Mail your converted images here: ali.khan909@yahoo.com, I will see it hopefully.
when i convert it into jpeg format and save, it only shows some parts of the page and blacks out the rest of the picture. why is this happening?
Legendary!!
Thank you, lifesaver!!!
- Author
I get a transparent background in PNG pictures using this very same method and I use it regularly.
Thanks for the tips, it works, but the PNG picture has a black background, whereas the original Word doc has a white background. Is there anything I can do about that?
Thank you, that was very helpful!
Very helpful, Thanks!
I have word 2017 and don't have the option to "paste special"
- Author
@me, It works with whatever you have selected, be it text or image.
- Author
You will have to convert both pages separately. If you copy the whole of your document and then convert it according to the procedure only first page will be converted.
So convert one page at a time.
It only converts one page of my document, but I need both pages to be converted. Why is this? How can I fix this?
for some reason it is only pasting the image and not the text
Wonderful tip...Thanks a bunch
thanks for this
man that was great i spent half a day to save a word file as a JPEG picture but couldnt save it as the same quality. now i could. thanx a lot for the instrucions.
"Ctrl+A" does not work when file has headers/footers; these are not selected when doing select all.
I would like to thank you from the core of my heart!
My doc is a beautiful picture now with high res and its been happily added to the email. Made my day :)
Bless you. Much love.
Shereen.
- Author
You can convert whole page by selecting all of it but at present you cannot convert whole documents using this method. I will update this if I find a way out.
No solution for complete documents, including all pages with header and footer.
Thanks. Very clear explanation!
thank you so much
- Author
Screenshots are from word 2016 for Mac which show the save as option available in the screenshots in step 6.
I have word 2013 for windows on my pc as well which has the save as option.
Please tell precisely which version you are using?
Step 6 "Save as Picture" option is no longer available on the menu...I see that many people are having that issue. Do you know why and how to work around it?
Thank you!!! Very helpful
- Author
Yes as the menu shows tiff is not an option in Mac, however if you use windows there is a option to print the entire document in tiff using Microsoft document image writer from the printing options. You can try this if it is available in Mac.
worked well until the end- tiff is not an option and that's what i need (on my mac). :/
Thanks for this. All worked fine till i tried to save [as TIFF] - then i got 'there was an error saving the file'..
GREAT tip! Thanks!
Yahoooooo and thank you!!!!
thanks
i got result in second time
- Author
You can try saving it in any other format png is not necessary.
I am complete up to steep no.5 but in the save time I can't find portable network graphic so how to do save after step no.5 please give me instruction. Thank you
Thank you!
I tried a lot with so many softwares, but your solution is tha fastest and smartest.
Nice explanation and well written ..Thank you
excellent post
thank you for this hub and good explanation
Informative and helpful. I will give it a try. Shared and voted up.
- Author
You must have selected the whole page ...... try selecting the table only.
Everything is okay, except one thing: when a table is saved as tiff, following your kind instructions, the "picture table" is bigger than the original one. On the right side and below the table is a wide empty space I can't shrink it or remove it. How to get a picture table with its original margins? Thanks a lot for your advice.
Just tried it out, thanks.
Thankyou very much....you are the man..
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