How do I get music into a word document?
  • lmassery
    Posts: 424
    I want to create a program or pamphlet in Microsoft Word or Publisher that contains lines of music but I don't know how to go about getting music into the document. What if I wanted to use music that already exists in a pdf file? Thanks for any insight you all can share.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    Use a graphics program to read in the PDF file as an image. (I use GIMP, which is free.)

    For each score you want to use: use the rectangle-select tool; select the score (or fragment) you want, then paste it as a new image. (This is the "Paste as new" function, under the "Edit" menu.) Save the new image as a new .PNG file.

    You can insert these in a word-processing document.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    I spent the day doing this over and over. Aargh.

    The path I know is this, but it only works if you have Adobe Acrobat, not just Adobe Reader.

    Save the document in pdf
    Open in Acrobat
    File--Export--Image--Tiff (or jpeg)
    (Open in a photo editing program if edits are needed)
    Open your Word document
    Insert--Picture

    If anyone knows a way with fewer steps, or a way to make image files from Adobe Reader (the free download) I'd love to hear it!
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    Usually I just do it the straightforward way:
    * Bring up the music PDF in Adobe Reader, expand to be as huge as possible while still seeing everything.
    * Do a screen-capture (Alt-PrtSc)
    * Paste it into Word
    * Crop and resize the picture in Word

    Variations:
    * You can do the picture cropping in Paint, which also gives you an opportunity to do minor cleanups, especially if you want to remove some irrelevant parts
    * For the screen capture, I actually use a program called Jing because it lets you capture only the part of the screen that you actually want. So no cropping needed in Word.
    * Of course this works for PowerPoint also, which is where I've done most of this kind of work. No doubt anything else that can paste a picture from the clipboard would work.
    Thanked by 1StimsonInRehab
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    If you move to Adobe InDesign, this gets a little easier, as you can import PDFs as design elements directly into the project. If you're doing design/layout frequently, using the Adobe suite (Photoshop for images, Illustrator for graphics, InDesign for layout, Acrobat for Publishing) your life will get a lot easier.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    You can open PDF files in Photoshop and then crop and save in any format you like. That's how I use the big LU pdf file to create individual chant books.
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 837
    I just use the pdf image: expand to about 200%; capture what you want with the Acrobat 'snapshot tool'; paste where you want it; manipulate it as needed in Word (size, cropping, text wrapping, position, contrast, darkness, etc.).
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    The screen cap idea is not one I would have thought of, but it works. I do the print PDF > Export image > crop image (in Corel Paint Shop Pro), save, insert into document.

    I have been using a free program called PicPicker that does a lot of fairly sophisticated graphics operations on screen grabs. Pretty cool. I use it all the time for making instructional materials.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    This is an incredibly helpful thread, thanks for the topic and ideas!
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Seriously, PicPicker is a life saver! If you really, really want to license it, you can do so for a whopping $21.95.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    When some procedures recommend that you enlarge a PDF before taking a screenshot, they're trying to produce an image with a high resolution (dots per inch).

    There is a more precise way. If you use a graphics program such as GIMP or Photoshop, it will *ask* you what resolution you want, so you can specify it as high as you like. 300 dpi usually works fine for me, but if you plan to enlarge a fragment beyond its original size, it wouldn't hurt to pick a higher resolution so that the modified image will still have a resolution high enough for good print quality.
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