[R-SIG-Mac] R EPS graphics and PDFs from Word Documents

[Smith, Daniel (DHS-DEODC-EHIB)]

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 08:36:32 -0800
> From: "Dr. Jose A. Garcia" <jgarcia35 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [R-SIG-Mac] R EPS graphics and PDFs from Word Documents (Jose
> 	Garcia)
> To: r-sig-mac at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Message-ID:
> 	<1afb42200611060836s5f7b3e47j5d3707afb5faa156 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> > On Nov 3, 2006, at 7:32 PM, Dan Putler wrote:
> >
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > This is likely to be viewed as being at the margins of acceptable
for
> > > this list, but I've run into an issue that I can't find a way
around.
> > > Specifically, I'm working with a Windows based co-author, who is
also
> > > MS Word based. So far I've found that we get the best graphic
quality
> > > using EPS graphic files created by R. The problem is that when I
just
> > > use the standard way of getting a PDF of the Word document by
saving
> > > the file as a PDF in the main print dialog, the resulting PDF has
the
> > > grayed warning box indicating that the graphic can't be seen on
> > > screen. If I instead use the option to convert the PDF to
PostScript,
> > > and then convert the resulting PostScript file back to PDF using
> > > Preview, I get the graphics the way they should be. I can see them
on
> > > screen, and so can anyone else. I can print them on one of my
> > > PostScript printers, but when folks on Windows go to print these
PDFs
> > > to a PCL printer the output is a string of Ss. I then tried taking
> > > the PS files and converting them to PDFs using ghostscript (ESP's
OS
> > > X port of gs 7.07 available from Gimp-Print). This causes all the
> > > graphics to come through properly, but the text is gibberish. I
did
> > > get what appears to be a clean conversion via CERN's document
service
> > > (but in A4, which is a problem in Canada and the US).
> > >
> > > Has anyone run into this problem and discovered the work-around
that
> > > seems to be eluding me?
> > >
> > > Dan
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > R-SIG-Mac mailing list
> > > R-SIG-Mac at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
> > >
> 
> 
> Microsoft Word does not handle EPS nor PDF graphics properly. If you
> want to embed your graphic in a word document, the best option is to
> save as jpeg from R. The quality of the figure is good enough.
> 
> However, if you are working for a publication, then most probably they
> will be asking for a EPS. In that case, wrote your paper in Word and
> do not try to insert the figures in the document. Send them as both
> EPS and PDF individual files instead.
> 
> I do think that the best option for a paper is to use LaTeX. The best
> figures in R are generated using postscript (EPS) which can be
> inserted very well on LaTeX documents.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> --
> Jose A. Garcia, Ph.D.
> Keck Graduate Institute
> 535 Watson Drive
> Claremont, CA 91711
> (909)-607-9254
> 

I have had the best results saving the R graphic as pdf (default), then
using Apple's Preview program to convert it to png.  When pasted into
Word or PowerPoint, the png graphic can be resized, opened in Windows,
etc. and still looks good.

Daniel Smith, Dr.P.H.
Environmental Health Investigations Branch
California Department of Health Services