Saving images within file / creating gallery for book

[mmaali]

Hi, I have a few questions relating to importing/using image files within .odt files and creating a gallery for a book manuscript.

I created and saved the gallery as a separate file than the rest of my manuscript. This is because A) the 20 or so TIFF files make the file HUGE and I want to easily email the actual manuscript (text portion) to people B) the gallery section of my book has different margins than the text pages

This week I had my PC reformated (restoring to factory setting) so I reinstalled OpenOffice... then I started editing my gallery.odt file... I noticed that the photos I had changed or added since I started working with my newly installed version of OpenHouse would not save within the file, and thus the file size reflected only those photos that had been imported on my previously installed version of Openhouse. Also, when I uploaded the file so it could be viewable to others online, the photos imported since the reinstall did not show up and there was just an outline of a box on those pages.

So basically my new install of OpenHouse does not save the photo files within the actual document but just loads them based on where they are located on the local computer that the document is opened on... but actually, today as I opened the file I saved yesterday in which I reimported all the images, I notice that photos do not appear at all, and instead there is a text link to where the files are located on my PC... this is strange because I did not change the location of the photos.

I suppose perhaps the newest version of OpenHouse has an automatic setting so that images are not saved within the actual file. How do I change it back? As I mentioned my image files are very large, so previously I was working with a very large (50 mg plus), but I suppose there is no way around this, as I am using 300dpi TIFF files suitable for printing. Is there perhaps a way to save lower resolution/smaller file size photos so that I can still email the manuscript to people and they can preview what the images look like, and at the end I can send the version with the large TIFF files to the publisher? I know I can manually resave the images and reimport them for the sake of having a version I send people via email during the production process, but I am wondering if OpenOffice can automatically reduce file sizes of images during a save.

I have another question regarding my gallery. As I mentioned the margins of the gallery pages are smaller than the margins of the chapters which contain text. Is there a way to create separate page styles within the same document? Otherwise what I was planning to do was save both the text portion of the manuscript and the gallery portion as PDFs at the end, and then order the PDFs based on how they should appear as a mansucript.

Thanks for reading. Anyway responses to my questions above and general tips for streamlining my process would be appreciated.

[John_Ha]

mmali
That's quite a lot to take in and I am not sure I understand it all.

First, the Gallery is a place where OpenOffice stores commonly used graphics and images to allow the user easy access to often used images. The Gallery is not the place to store images for a document you create. When you place an image in an ODT document, the image is stored in the ODT file. An image does not need to be in the Gallery before you place it in the document - just Insert > Picture > from file; or copy the image > paste. But there are implications which follow from the method you use.

Second you say OpenHouse - I assume you mean OpenOffice.

Can you please answer the following questions to allow suggestions to be made

Q1 About how many images will there be in the final document?

Q2 Will you be converting it to a PDF for printing and/or distributing and/or saving it? Or will you be saving it in ODT format, and not using PDF?

Q3 Do you have a limit on the size of the saved ODT file? or the saved PDF file?

Q4 If it is to be printed, what resolution printer will be used to print it? 150dpi is good average quality (and used by some commercial printers); 300dpi is excellent quality, but you can go to 600dpi or higher with excellent quality printers.

Q5 Are some images photos, and some images "graphics" (ie text, charts, diagrams, clip-art etc)?

The answers to these questions will enable a suitable method to be selected.

Also, please read the Documentation - especially Chapter 8 Working with graphics in the Writer Guide.