Word 2013 "This image cannot currently be displayed"

Hi Daniel,

I'm experiencing similar problems as the TS with inserting images in Word 2013. I believe its a bug in MS Word 2013 since I didn't have the problem with MS word 2010. Moreover, files created in Word 2010 on the same computer now show problems when opened in Word 2013. I'll try to explain below in detail, so the problem for me and many other users can be fixed.

Problem description

Some of the pictures I insert in word 2013 are not properly inserted and only show a white frame with text "This image cannot currently be displayed" (see img1). Various times when a picture is inserted (or a previously saved document opened) only the space required for the picture is visible, the picture itself is not shown, the white frame is not shown and the notification text is not shown either. Once a picture is inserted (or saved document is opened) and picture cannot be shown I often experience that Word freezes and becomes unresponsive. Now and then the document can be closed and a box popups to save the document, however it also occurs that the save box pop ups but no text/buttons are visible within the box (see img2). Word can only be closed through Windows task manager then.

I also noticed that when I have 2 word documents open at the same time and I insert an image in document 1 resulting in only a white frame instead of the picture, the pictures that did show properly in document 2 now have also been replaced with the white frame. When document 1 becomes unresponsive, document 2 becomes unresponsive as well. Closing document 1 through taskbar allows to continue working in document 2 and images are suddenly shown correct again.

Img1

Img2

System details

Win 7 Pro (English) 64 bit

CPU 3.40 GHz

RAM 8 GB

Office 2013 (15.0.4623.1003)

Troubleshooting steps tried

Image details

I’ve created various sizes of basic images with Inscape and inserted them as png file in a new blanc document to verify if the problem occurs.

Images are created with Inkscape and exported too png format.

Images of 260 DPI (12386 x 8693 pixels) and higher/larger cause the problem when inserted in Word 2013. At 260 DPI the image was only 436 KB for a png file.

With Irfanview I converted the PNG image to BMP, JPG and TIF, and the same problem occurred with these files when inserted in Word 2013.

Tried suggestions

Method 1. check Disable hardware graphics acceleration. > no result, also when document is reopened problem still exist.

Method 2. Change the default printer driver to Microsoft Onenote.****> no result, also when document is reopened problem still exist.

Method 3. start Word in safe mode**.** > no result, also when document is reopened problem still exist.

Method 4. Toggle the option "Do not compress images in file". > no result, also when document is reopened problem still exist.

I see this as an annoying bug in Word 2013, since before I updated from 2010 I did not experience these problems. I would like to see a bug fix asap, since this is a basic and important feature that should function in word 2013. If you need more details I’m happy to answer them or send the image file so you can try yourself.

Hello George,

I'd like to ask a question before proceeding:

Does this issue occur on a new Word document?

Let's try the following methods and verify the result:

Method 1Let's open the Word document go to File > Options> Advanced > Display >and check Disable hardware graphics acceleration > Apply > OK. Now close and re-open the file and verify the result.

Method 2Change the default printer driver to Microsoft Onenote following instructions mentioned in the article below and verify the result:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-default-printer#1TC=windows-7

Method 3If issue still persists, start Word in safe mode following instructions mentioned in the article below and then open the problem document and verify the result:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/why-cant-i-start-my-office-2013-application-HA104011864.aspx

If Word works in safe mode as expected, follow the steps mentioned in the following article and see if it helps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541

Hope the above information helps. Reply with the result and I'll be glad to help you further.

Thank you.

Dan, please ask your colleagues to fix this problem. It's affecting a very basic function of word.

Office 365, Windows 7, images can't be displayed.

Hello –

I ran into this recently and would like to share a workaround that worked for me and a bit of insight. I was getting the same “image cannot be displayed” when inserting or copy / pasting a few specific jpegs to MS Office Word 2013. This issue would not happen in Word 2007, my issue was related using Autocad and exporting an image to a PDF and then copying or exporting the PDF image into a Jpeg to Word document. I was using Acrobat Standard (Adobe PDF) and had the issue. The workaround was to use a different software to convert the pdf from AutoCad (I used PDF995) and then I was able to retrieve the image and insert into the word document fine. I read MS Word 2013 has blocked a few vulnerabilities coming from specific picture files. I suspect it seeing what it thinks is a vulnerability in my previous method mentioned and therefore blocks it.   Hope it helps

I am having this trouble too.  Sometimes my graphics insert fine, and sometimes they don't.  Sometimes my graphics display, and sometimes they don't.  Often closing and re-opening the file gets around the issue temporarily, but it always recurs. My file size is about 32Mbytes.  My graphics are maximum 2Mbyte .pngs, and I have about 20 such.

The link you provided contradicts what you just said:

"The maximum file size is limited to 32 MB for the total document text onlyand does not include graphics, regardless of how the graphics image is inserted (Link to file, Save with document, or Wrapping style) into the document. Therefore, if the file contains graphics, the maximum file size can be larger than 32 MB."

I have just had an instance in which I was looking at an empty rectangle, ctl-tabbed here to edit this note, and ctl-tabbed back to find the graphic displaying correctly.  Is it a latency issue?  Repeating this procedure, with a delay of about 30 seconds, another display rectifies itself.  I am using an HP Spectre laptop with quad-core processor and 4Gbytes RAM.  64 bit Windows 8.1, 32 bit Office.