Word is automatically shrinking pictures when pasting them

Question

Hi There,

I was regularly working with Word, studying an online training tool, from which I paste text and images into my Word document.

My word document has several sections and it is very large (originally 60MB), more than 30000 words, lots of pictures...
From some point on today, Word is starting automatically to shrink my images, hence not pasting them correclty onto the document. I´ve tried from different sources (Greenshot snipping tool, directly coping from Chrome etc), always happens the same, so the issue is not there.

Please check attachment.https://answerscdn.microsoft.com/static/images/image-not-found.jpg
https://answerscdn.microsoft.com/static/images/image-not-found.jpg
So, I've saved a smaller file by compressing its pictures. The file now has 50 MB, but same thing...
I've seen that I have these options configured correctly, so not due to this. Same thing...

I even deleted a macro I created, related to resizing of pictures. Same thing...

Please take into account, I did not change anything on my settings etc. I was working on a very daily basis and this suddenly started to happen.

Finally, it definitely seems related to the size of the file, pictures and its number etc, because if I create a new word document with the last sections of the my original file, there I am able to paste pictures correctly again. But I want to work with the whole document, and not splitting it into several documents...

Can someone please help?

Thanks a lot in advance,
José

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Answer 1

Your display looks like Web Layout which explains why the text paragraphs are much wider (compared to the narrow shapes or images in the very last screen shot, repeated below). Maybe you have already considered that fact.

Pasting an image when the document is in Web Layout view may produce wider images (strange as it may seem) because the image adjusts to the displayed width (just like the text lines do).

Answer 2

If you paste your images with the "In line with text" placement option set as the default, Word will adjust the size of the image so that it fits between the left and right margin of the container (page, table cell, text box).

The paste options can be found at File > Options > Advanced. Here, I am specifically referring to the "Insert/paste pictures as" option.

Answer 3

Sometimes, it is a good idea to divide a large document into several smaller versions, for performance reasons. This may be especially true for documents that contain a lot of images and other graphics.

The underlying behavior—that Word adjusts an "In line with text" image to the width of the container in which you put the image—is not unique to new documents, though (nor is it a recent change).

Please don't get me wrong, but you are avoiding the "Word limitation/restriction" point.

I am studying and bulding this file for one certification, not two certifications, so therefore it is not proper for me to split this into two or more documents.

I am no longer able to link specific sections if they are in two or more documents, for instance.

Best regards,

José

Answer 4

Hi Yuhao Li and Stefan,

Thanks a lot for your help and indications.

To be honest, I do not think that that is the matter. Let me try to explain so.

• "on the company laptop due to permission restrictions, such as deleting the entire "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0" folder, you may need to contact your IT department for assistance. It is possible that they could resolve this issue immediately with their technical expertise:"

I've already done this and they told me the other way around. So, the issue comes from a Word limitation and not from something related to an internal tool of the company (see also below point please);

• [Yuhao Li] Checking if the images you are trying to insert are in the correct format. Word works best with JPEG, PNG, and BMP formats. If the images are in another format, try converting them to one of these formats and see if that helps. Checking if the images you are trying to insert are very large in terms of pixel size. If they are, try resizing them before inserting them into the document. Word may struggle to handle very large images, especially if there are many of them. [Stefan] If you paste your images with the "In line with text" placement option set as the default, Word will adjust the size of the image so that it fits between the left and right margin of the container (page, table cell, text box).

As I mentioned on my first post, it is irrelevant where the images come from - it can be from Chrome, Greenshot tool - and how big they are, the images are pasted incorrectly. Perfect example for this is the attachment I send now. The picture that I am pasting into document is tiny, only 6KB. You can see within the text that, at the second time that I paste the picture, its height is automatically shrinked.
If I go to whichever other (much smaller) Word document I can paste the same picture correctly as many times as I want.

That's why I think it is related to some word-sizing limitation/restriction, but I might be wrong.

Thanks and best regards,
José

Answer 5

Hello José Barata1,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Here are some possible solutions to the issue of Word automatically shrinking images while pasting them into a large Word document:

1. Clear the cache (How to clear office cache data without going through Microsoft Upload - Microsoft Community): Clearing the cache can often help resolve issues related to performance or glitches.
2. Increase available memory: Large files may require more memory to be processed without issues. Consider upgrading the computer's memory or closing any other programs running in the background to free up memory.
3. Disable image compression: Check the "Compress pictures" option in the "Advanced" tab of the "Options" menu, and make sure it is disabled (Turn off picture compression - Microsoft Support).
4. Use a different file format: Try saving the file as a different file format, such as .docx, .rtf, or .pdf, to see if the issue persists.

Please let me know if you have any additional concerns.

Best regards,

Yuhao Li

Microsoft Community Technical Support