Pasting into Word

You have to "export" the drawing file and save as a metafile, then you can paste this file into Word. Use Open Office, which is free!, to edit these metafiles if you need too. Better than Coral paint shop pro X

So how do I "export" the drawing? The only command I see is file/save-as, and there is no metafile option.

Even then, it seems an unnecessary step that you don't need to do with Autocad or I-Deas.

Regards, John Harland

Oops! Missed a procedure there. I save as a dfx file, open with autocad LT and export from there to a metafile. Sorry about the confusion! :-) Long winded I know, but the only way I can find to get sharp graphics.

John, I don't know what the reason is for going to MSWord, but whenever I do it, I use SnagIt as a screenshot.

You can't get much quicker than this.

Bo

Another method I like for sharp images is printing to a postscript file (eps). Word XP and newer can import EPS file. You can download a free Adobe postscript printer driver from

For low res stuff I just use shift-printscreen or alt-printscreen and paste into Word.

Bill

I quite often want to add a very simple diagram to a Word or Excel document, and the built-in drawing capability is just right for this.... or it would be if the interface weren't so crap. I find it much easier to draw the diagram in CAD, and then copy/paste the lines/arcs/text into Word. If I need to change it slightly later, I can still use the drawing tools in Word to edit it.

At other times, I might want to include a small portion of an "official" CAD drawing in a technical document, and the same method works well.

The problem is that for some weird reason, SWX doesn't support copy/paste into other apps - Autocad does, and even I-Deas does, and it was originally a Unix app!!

If I were trying to add a shaded image to a Word document, I'd probably use something like Snagit, but generally the increase in file size resulting from addiing raster images is not justified.

Regards, John Harland

If you have an easy way to print/save as PDF from SW, you could try our pdf2picture tool to convert it to a Windows Metafile for scalable and editable import into Word. See

for more info and a free trial. We also have products for (E)PS input, and many other output formats.

Jeroen Dekker Visual Integrity Technologies snipped-for-privacy@visual-integrity.com

For pasting into Word or Excel, I like the PNG format. It supports vectors, so nothing is lost when scaling or zooming.

Currently, I get my PNG's this way:

1. Print to PDF.
2. Open PDF in Adobe Acrobat, and save as PNG.

I have full Acrobat (not just reader), so I am not sure if reader-only has export to PNG functionality.

Otherwise, GhostScript (free) or Hijaak (low cost) are quite capable of the PDF-to-PNG conversion.

Hey, if you want to save a PNG then do a PNG screen shot from SnagIt.

Doesn't get any easier than that.

Save to the clipboard or a file.

Sheesh.

Bo

Don't have SnagIt. Don't have the privilege to install anything at work.

Does the SnagIt screenshot preserve the vector data? If not, there is no advantage.

Whatever PNG gets is what you get.

PNG is a bit map format as far as I know.

Their website tells what formats SnagIt grabs objects in. There are about over 2 dozen formats.

Bo

We save our drawings in autocad dwg format and use our autocad with an add-in called Better WMF (trial version on

With this program you can copy and paste into Word (WMF format), and this will still be vector format (small files). Better WMF can remove the autocad background color, define the line widths, crop the picture to the extends of the selected objects, etc. I like the program, but I prefer to have a program what can grab a drawing from Solidworks directly (in vector format) to paste into Word.

\/\/im

"John H" wrote...