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If I import an .eps picture to Microsoft Word as normal, the quality
of the vector picture comes down (the image gets rasterised.

In this case, the EPS was produced with the pgfplot package and tikzpicture,
But it would be great to have a general way of importing PDFs, PSs or EPSs into Word.

So, how can I import .eps/.pdf/.ps to MS Word without losing quality?

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  • It might just be the screen rendering that produces of lower quality. Try exporting to PDF (or even printing if you want to waste paper) and look at and zoom in on the figure to see if the resolution really has been reduced. Perhaps try to even just zoom in the document itself, but if it still looks bad, this won't rule out screen rendering bugs/features in Word. – Daniel Andersson May 19 '12 at 15:05
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Convert the .eps file to .emf (Enhanced MetaFile, a spool file format used in printing by Microsoft software). There are several ways to do this conversion; for example by using the following webservice: https://cloudconvert.com/eps-to-emf

In my experience, .emf files are the only way to reliably embed vector graphics in several Word versions on Mac and Windows.

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  • That works, and eps support indeed doesn't (it's linearized). – John Feb 21 '16 at 15:15
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    For any future readers: MS has dropped support for .eps in Office entirely. support.office.com/en-us/article/… – thymaro Feb 27 '20 at 13:27
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If you simply insert the .eps file in word as an image it will look bad in Word, but when you print it to paper it will utilize the vector graphics and it looks fine.

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  • It looks fine, but it really is linearized, meaning it introduces edges if you look closely. – John Feb 21 '16 at 15:16
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Don't open or import directly. If it's Word 2013 (v15), under the tab of "Insert", click "Pictures" icon and browse to your eps file. If the eps files was originally created in vector, it won't be rasterised.

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    Won't be rasterized, but linearized - meaning you can make out edges there weren't there in the original. – John Feb 21 '16 at 15:13
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You can import eps file to open office. Then save open office file as .doc file. Now open .doc file in word. Copy the figure and paste it where ever you want in the another word file.

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  • you right. but when do this work, The quality of figure comes down. – sayros May 18 '12 at 4:44
  • If it posible I sent my eps file to your email and check it.my be my Microsft word has problem. this is my email mohamad.shojaee1@yahoo.com. thanks. – sayros May 18 '12 at 4:47
  • Can you use open office in linux. Then quality will not come down. – sandu May 18 '12 at 4:56
  • I work with Microsoft windows 7. – sayros May 18 '12 at 5:09
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I would not depend on Word to manage the quality of the image. Use the right tool for the job. I would export the image from an illustration program in the desired size as a GIF or PNG file and put that into Word. Then you avoid Word extrapolation, scaling, and proportion issues. Much the same with bitmap images like photos. If you size the image inside Word you reduce quality and increase file size.

OpenOffice has a Windows version as well and it'd free. Both it and Word are word processing programs, not image editing tools.

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    Rasterization means losing quality, which is not what the user asked about. – einpoklum Jan 9 '15 at 15:06
  • I also find that even at 300DPI Word still buggers up the quality of bitmap files. – Jonny Jan 27 '16 at 8:23
  • This is a pretty poor option when the output is not print, i.e. it is provided as a PDF – Hugoagogo Apr 25 '17 at 8:22
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It goes without saying that you should get your image into the state that you want to import before you import it.  So, if the image has excessive white space surrounding the picture area, you might want to crop the pdf/eps/whatever — perhaps using a simple command line tool like pdfcrop — but of course that’s optional, and outside of the scope of this question.

Then

  1. Import it into Inkscape, using the poppler library option.
  2. Save as an Enhanced Metafile (EMF).
  3. Import the EMF file into Microsoft Word.

emf is a vector format that Word can handle, so it does not pixelate, and so it does retain quality, unless the original image has qualities that emf cannot reproduce because of its limitations.  Keep in mind that emf cannot cope with some shapes, gradients and fonts that eps/pdf/whatever can cope with.  Even if this works and you maintain the vector-ness of the image, something may be lost due to the lousy format of emf.

YMMV

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  • (1) The question is not “What neat things can I do with an EPS file?”; it is “How can I import an EPS file into Microsoft Word without losing quality?” Do you have an answer to that question?  (2) The OP is concerned about losing data fidelity. Why do you believe that it’s appropriate to suggest cropping? – Scott Nov 2 '18 at 5:37
  • With respect, there is no need to be rude. Also, I did give an answer to that question; emf is a vector format that Word can handle, so it does not pixelate so does retain quality, unless the original image has qualities that emf cannot reproduce because of its limitations. I often use this route as an opportunity to crop out white space to maximise the picture area, but of course that's optional. Inkscape is very handy. – user959824 Nov 9 '18 at 7:06
  • (1) I pointed out that your “answer” seemed not to answer the question, if only because it left out parts that you thought were obvious.  But, if the person asking the question knew everything that you know, they wouldn’t need to ask the question — so please don’t omit key details.  If you are offended by that, I suggest that you post complete answers on the Stack Exchange network (of which Super User is a part) — or none at all. … (Cont’d) – Scott Nov 10 '18 at 0:23
  • (Cont’d) …  (2) I can understand the desire to post an abbreviated hint that points in the direction of a solution, if you’re in a hurry.  But, if that was your situation, why did you type the largely irrelevant paragraph about cropping?  And, if you had the time to compose a comment accusing me of rudeness, you had time to edit your answer.  (3) I have edited your answer based on your comment (and guessing at the bits that you declined to state, even in your comment). … (Cont’d) – Scott Nov 10 '18 at 0:23
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    Well, I think we can see the internet at work nicely here. Between we have come up with a nice answer. By the way, I'm not an experienced poster to this forum, I just wanted to help someone out, and if I did not do it up to your standards I apologise. Clearly this is a forum for the 'in' crowd, and I'll be sure not to contribute any more. Well done. – user959824 Nov 10 '18 at 22:40
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As noted above, when printing everything will be converted to vector form this raster picture is only for fast scrolling. You can try to click on the image and right-click to edit the image and word will convert the image from *.emf the word clip art. (But things can go wrong :( From my experience the only vector format that Word supports is the *.emf. I use Inkscape to convert SVG,Dxf,PDF,PS to EMF

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    This duplicates another answer and adds no new content. Please don't post an answer unless you actually have something new to contribute. – DavidPostill♦ Apr 18 '16 at 11:01

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