File Conversion

[yecats]

Is there a software that will take a quark document or Illustrator file and convert this into a Word document.

We have clients who want the stationery that has been designed for printing saved as a word template. We usually spend hours re-working the file in order for it to print properly on a laser printer.

[T-Rex]

There is no application or XTension that I am aware of that will do what you are asking. However there may be some workaround. I am pretty sure that MS Word can accept TIFF, EPS, JPEG files, and maybe even PDFs. The best thing you may be able to do is export these files you want to PDFs then rasterize them in Photoshop to TIFF and place them in a Word document.

Maybe....

[yecats]

This is what we do, we also try saving them under every file format possible (BMP, WMF etc)

But they never seem to print properly. What we do for one client, may not work for the next....

[T-Rex]

The key with each Word document is the supporting grahics applications and filters each copy of Word may have. If you had consistent installations and versions at each clients' machines, you could get consistent results.

If you are on a Mac, the formats supported by QuickTime are available, but if someone on a PC doesn't have QT installed, your imported graphics probably won't work, you'll just get some kind of proxy when you print, etc.

Some are embedded, some are linked, and who knows if that makes a difference. Word's help system doesn't even address the issues of resolution at output, or what happens with hi-res files placed in.

The main problem is that Word is not a layout or printing application in the first place, as I'm sure you well know. It's OK for Office-to-office communications (newsletters, etc.) but never intended for print-ready files. It would be better in the long run to try to convert your clients to some other possible means, such as Acrobat.

[T-Rex]

If you save your graphics out as PNG files (rgb 24bit), they work fine in Word on the PC side I hear.

This latest from an Applelust review article for Adobe Creative Studio:

There is also a new save command: Save for Microsoft Office. Save for Office essentially makes a portable network graphic (PNG) file for those poor souls limited to Office options on PC systems. I'm personally quite thankful for this addition - I've spent too much of my life on the phone talking clients off the ledge after they tried to toss an EPS file into any Office application. Microsoft Office applications simply do not understand CMYK colors, let alone Pantone Spot Colors. A nice little RGB PNG is just the ticket for these folks.

the article url:
http://www.applelust.com/reviews/archives/adobecs/

[yecats]

I'm looking at pushing the client of the ledge myself. But that;s another story.

I found a conversion program - http://www.scansoft.com/pdfconverter/

Cost is cheap ($50 us)

This takes a PDF File and converts the document to word. The draw back is its PC software. (which is ok for me cause were in a mixed platform).

It slighly shifted some graphics - which I'm trying to work around. Other than that it worked great.