Pasting is not the normal method of transfering files out of Photoshop. You should save the file in the format you want (probably jpg) and then use Word’s import feature to place it. It may take a few more steps, but it will preserve the quality of the image.
When copying and pasting bitmaps from other programs you would expect to get an exact copy of the bitmap. I guess you also get this when pasting from Photoshop, but somehow the pasted object will not let Word resize the picture to fit on the page.
I do this pasting a lot when making web-design-documents with hundreds of pictures. Therefore it would require a considerable extra effort to save and import every picture as a file and afterwards delete the temporary file.
The best behavior from Photoshop would be if I could paste the picture as it looks in Photoshop, let word resize it, and still have the possibility to edit it (with all layers intact) by double-clicking on the pasted object in Word.
Regards, Jan
and still have the possibility to edit it (with all layers intact) by double-clicking on the pasted object in Word.
You can if you ***really*** want to – Insert Object. You’ll create some pretty heavyweight Word docs though. By the way, I don’t see the behaviour you describe when pasting into Word but I do when I use Insert – Picture from File. Word is actually reading the resolution of the image and using that so a 300 ppi image will appear much smaller than a 72 ppi image of the same pixel size. Same thing as View Print Size in PS.
And how could this possibly be a bug in Photoshop?
It seems that the default way to paste is as an object. Try to paste a large bitmap – e.g. a large screenshot from Photoshop into word. The picture is not rescaled to fit the page, and it is impossible to rescale it – there are only two-sizes (too big or extremely small). Furthermore the image appears blurred, as if it has been scaled down and then restored to its original size with a lot of anti-aliasing.
But anyway I must thank you Mick, because you have drawn my attention towards the paste special-command. If I paste the picture as a windows metafile, it rescales nicely.
Pasting works fine from Image Ready, which appearantly pastes a windows-metafile as the default paste-operation.
Btw. you state that I can paste as an object and thereby preserve layer-information. I just can’t figure out how to copy multiple layers without merging them (ctrl+shift+c).
You can insert (not paste)an ole object using the Insert – Object command. Hit the Create from File tab and insert the psd file you want. You will be able to edit the file by clicking on it – PS will open up and layers will be preserved. I never use ole objects for anything much myself as they usually cause file sizes to swell massively (in Access at least) but that was what I was referring to.
