What logo and colour format to use for Microsoft Word

[williamm41343857]

Hi everyone,

So I have a logo in CMYK and want to use it in Word with the intention of printing it.

1. What format should I export my logo?

2. Should I convert the colours to RGB because word doesn't support CMYK or is it best to keep it in CMYK mode and let it do its thing?

I am aiming for the best colour consistency.

At first, I thought PNG but it doesn't support CMYK so it will probably automatically convert the logo to RGB and it's not intended for Print. JPEG supports CMYK but not transparency. So then I saw .WMF, .EMF., and .SVG. But I am not sure if these are good options for print neither if they support CMYK.

Thanks in advance!William

[barbara_a]

PNG is the best choice for screen display. If you then save as PDF, Acrobat can convert the RGB to CMYK, depending on the settings that you choose.

If it's strictly for print work, then save as EPS.

However, it is better to use InDesign for print work.

[williamm41343857]

Thanks for your answer.

My question then is, if I am using a PNG logo, should I export to PNG with CMYK mode in illustrator or RGB mode. And does it even matter?

I do use InDesign for everything else but these are templates that the client requires and they only use Word and normally complain about the colour. Unfortunately, Word doesn't support EPS or PDF anymore to be inserted.

[Mike_Gondek]

If you have a logo request in a vector format, one must exist  Many people in your position search the internet for a .pdf, hope for a vector .pdf or to find on seeklogo.com and fill them per the brand standards guide colors.

For .png to get your logo looking as sharp as vector format you would need a high resolution (eg: 1200 dpi on many office printers).

Test Screen Name.

[williamm41343857]

Ya, it is a vector logo that I created in illustrator. I just wasn't sure what format to export it to for word.

1200? Now that is a new one for me, I thought a 300 dpi PNG in RGB would be good enough.

Thanks for the tip.

[Mike_Gondek]

A common misconception is  300 dpi applies to everything. Print a side by side comparison of a vector logo next to a 300 dpi version of the logo and you will see the difference with your eyes on a 600 dpi or better printer.

CT (Continuos Tone) resolution, as in photographs is often 300 dpi based on a standard 150 lpi screen.

LW (Line Work) resolution is for solid colors and for printing is actually about 2480 dpi average, laser printers vary.

[mark-heaps]

If you are on Windows, you can copy a logo from Illustrator and then Paste Special into programs like Word and PowerPoint. Not regular "Paste" you have to use the Paste Special feature. Once it is pasted, select it, and you'll ungroup it, not once, but twice. This will give you the logo art, and the bounding box compound path from Illustrator. Delete the surrounding box, you don't need it. Now you have an editable vector inside of your office application. Once you have it edited in PPT, you can copy and paste freely into Word and retain editing capabilities.

If you are on MAC, well this gets a bit more complicated. There is a program out there from Recosoft that converts Illustrator artboards into editable PowerPoint slides. However, here's a good work around I've used a few times on Mac. Take your Illustrator file and make sure all of the logo elements are ungrouped. Give it a default fill and stroke. Now save the Illustrator file as a .PDF. In Acrobat there is an export tool that will let you export your PDF to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc. I recommend PowerPoint because it has more graphics capabilities than Word. Once you open up that converted PDF to PPT, you should be able to select it and edit it as needed. Now, copy and paste into your word file.

If you do either of the above, you'll have scalable vectors inside of your Office file without the horrible conversion that happens with .EPS.

As for colors, Office uses the sRGB color space. CMYK is a smaller color gamut so if you just convert your CMYK file to sRGB it shuold exist within that space. With exception to a few hues that change (hello blue to purple). But honestly, it shouldn't be an issue. As for printing consistency, well, it's Word after all so...

Good luck.

[williamm41343857]

Hey Mark,

I really appreciate the tip, I have never heard of Paste Special before, however, when I use it basically pastes it as an SVG and it won't let me ungroup it. Maybe that was available on older versions of Word?

This is what shows on mine:

And thanks for the answer on colours. I guess you are right, it is difficult to achieve consistency with Word, but I wanted to make sure I use the best format possible. I also never understood why word doesn't support CMYK if people generally use it for printing documents. It is just weird to me that you would send an RGB document to print. I still need to learn more about the printing world.

Much appreciated,

William

[Test Screen Name]

Which CMYK is it in? Is it specifically targeted to a particular press/printer, or is it some generic CMYK (though there isn't actually such a thing, people will tell you!)

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

William,

You may try out the different options. WMF and EMF (also RGB) are vector formats understood by Worst.

Presumably, the final documents will be normally be printed on (random) non PS (emulatiing) printers (drivers) that will try to create the best possible CMYK conversions of RGB files, and with CMYK files they will start by converting them to RGB which gives you the displeasure of two opposite colour mode conversions completely out of your control.

So I believe it is better to use an RGB that you have created in the best way possible, and maybe also see what happens when printed on one or more non PS printers and see which version is least worst.

[williamm41343857]

This seems to be the right answer for this. Thanks!

That was kind of my idea like you mentioned, even if we paste a CMYK logo Word will convert it to RGB and on the output might convert to CMYK again. Correct? That does seem to mess up things. I will try using the best RGB match and see how that prints out.

Thanks again!

[Jacob Bugge]

For my part you are welcome, William.

[Mike_Gondek]

CMYK PDF.

EMF & WMF used to be the  formats Microsoft originally suggested for this, but  the newer illustrator features can drop or change and become large slow unstable files.

EPS is an old unsupported format since the millenium and does not support transparency

[williamm41343857]

I believe Word doesn't let us insert a PDF format logo in a document. At least for me, it doesn't. It's probably unsupported the same way EPS is. Or is there another way?

[Test Screen Name]

Word doesn't support CMYK because in an office setting nobody uses it for printing documents. 95% of connected printers in offices don't support CMYK printing either, they insist on RGB.

Picking "CMYK" without knowing what CMYK profile to use for the actual printing inks is worse than useless, too, and most people wouldn't have the knowledge to accurately pick a profile. In short, CMYK is a disaster except for professionals versed in colour management.

[Test Screen Name]

Who says EPS is unsupported? (But NEVER use a CMYK EPS in Word! Nor any other kind of CMYK graphic! Disaster! Word will have to convert it to RGB for printing, and you'll have no control or knowlege how it happened. Please stop looking for loopholes: the worst thing is you may find one. )

[williamm41343857]

It simply is. Check here: Support for EPS images has been turned off in Office - Microsoft Office

OK, so the answer is: Go with an RGB logo even when you intend to print the document, and you have no control over how it will look once printed.

Thank you all!

[Test Screen Name]

Well, if you use a properly tagged RGB then you should have some reasonable control, because the tagging (profile) will be used by any reasonable software and printing system. (A lot of software is not reasonable)

You should get much better colour accuracy than sending CMYK out to unknown printers.

Thanks for the info on EPS support in Word. I hadn't heard of it, suggesting that EPS is even deader than people have been saying. This is part of a pattern of taking things away because of security weaknesses. At some point people who want things to work are going to have to push back against this quick-and-dirty approach to fixing security issues.