MS Word: Preserving vector graphics (SVG) when saving document as PDF

user_8032447 0
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Microsoft recently added SVG support to Word 2016. But when trying to save a document containing a SVG vector graphic as PDF the graphic will be converted to a raster image.

I tried to change the Image Size and Quality Options (-> "do not compress images in file" and "high fidelity") but this had no effect whats-o-ever. My second approach was to use the "Microsoft Print to PDF"-printer but this didn't preserve the graphics either.

Is there a way to preserve the scalability of my graphics when saving to document as pdf? Is there somewhere an option in the settings that I haven't discovered yet?

If this is only a SVG issue: Which other vector graphics format will work better?

vector-graphics ms-office ms-word svg pdf
6 Answers

In response to your final question:

"If this is only a SVG issue: Which other vector graphics format will work better?"

For years the only vector format that Word supported was Microsoft's proprietary .emf file format. If you encounter further issues, you can always try converting your .svg to .emf. Inkscape can export as .emf, and in my experience it's a much more accurate conversion than Adobe Illustrator.

Incidentally, the workaround that Andrew posted above works by converting your clipboard data into an .emf file. However there are a few times when exporting from Inkscape directly would be preferable, for instance when you want to preserve a buffer of blank space around your graphic (using the clipboard will not select blank space).

user_111928620

Microsoft seems to have improved SVG support in Word. SVG vector graphics are now perfectly preserved when saving the document as PDF.

(I'm using Office version 1806)

user_80324470

I just solved the problem by doing export directly from OneDrive online. Probably it happens because online word version is html-based and it has better treatment for svg.

user_27807070

I solved this yesterday and hope the answer works for you.

The graphic was cropped at first in your Word (my version is 2019)? In my case, if I insert the SVG graphics without cropping, the SVG graphic works well in PDF. While if the SVG graphic was cropped before converting to the PDF, it will collapse. It has nothing to do with the resolution.

Besides, my SVG graphics were generated by Python. If you need to crop the images to adjust the size, "Inksacpe" software is a good choice.

user_120103850
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