Read Error for pictures on Text doc

[don146]

When I insert images on a text document, some show a read error, also will not export as PDF file. If I do only one image there is no problem, when I insert more than one, some show Read Error. Can someone please help resolve this?

[therabi]

How are you 'inserting' the images? What format are they in? Where are they located, local or Internet? Can you provide a sample of the doc and images?

[don146]

How are you 'inserting' the images? What format are they in? Where are they located, local or Internet? Can you provide a sample of the doc and images?

I use insert picture from file. The photos are on my local disk. I was able to make these docs with no problem, until a few days ago. The photos are jpegs.

[therabi]

Have you tried to reset your user profile? See this post http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 403#p58403

[RoryOF]

First of all, try Therabi's suggestion of resetting your user profile. This cures many funny happenings in OpenOffice. If after that any picture does not insert, you need to verify that it opens correctly in some other application. If it does not open correctly in another application its file may be corrupted. If it does open correctly, we need to establish why OOo won't load it, which may need examination of the coding details of the jpeg files.

[erik_h]

I just recently had the same problem.

After preparing a document of 16 pages - specific sheet size, margings etc I insertes a image on every page.
(Actually making a faximile of a single signature from scanned pages of an old book - for repair purpose)

From this document I make a pdf-file for further printing and processing.

To my surprise some of the pages in the pdf-document had only the text "Reding error" in the upper left corner of a lined frame.
reopening the saved odt-file showed that some images were missing - showing a text of "reading error...".
But the images were there when I worked on the document.

I tried both inserting as an image and as a link - nothing helped. And it seemed unpredictable which page lost its image.
(Mayby there was a tendency that bigger image files missed more often - I really didn't investigate this further.)

I didn't know I should try to replace the user profile then,
so I inserted images and saved the complete file after each insertion.
That did solve the problem with the missing images.

Well - after reading this topic I also deleted my old profile - just to be sure.
So next time I will try the normal way of inserting and not saving after each insertion.

[Hagar Delest]

I've had troubles in the past when the pasted or inserted file had always the same name (like clipboard.png): if you don't save the OOo file before inserting another pic with the same name, then only the last one is correctly embedded. That's why now I always save the pic with a picture manager (like XnView), give it a name and then insert it with the OOo menu Insert>Picture>From file (well, I've a button for that of course). And in case you don't know, save the file after each pic insertion.

[RoryOF]

I've always found it a good practice to make a folder for each project which contains all included files, whether linked or embedded. I copy the master files to this folder before linking or embedding them. Graphics files I pre-process (as does Hagar) reducing them to slightly oversize (exact crop takes place in the application) and reducing resolution to that appropriate for the project. I put them also into the working directory with an amended filename, usually a prefix letter.

[erik_h]

I've had troubles in the past when the pasted or inserted file had always the same name (like clipboard.png): if you don't save the OOo file before inserting another pic with the same name, then only the last one is correctly embedded. That's why now I always save the pic with a picture manager (like XnView), give it a name and then insert it with the OOo menu Insert>Picture>From file (well, I've a button for that of course). And in case you don't know, save the file after each pic insertion.

Well - In my case all images had names corresponding to the actual book page - so they were all different.

[erik_h]

I've always found it a good practice to make a folder for each project which contains all included files, whether linked or embedded. I copy the master files to this folder before linking or embedding them. Graphics files I pre-process (as does Hagar) reducing them to slightly oversize (exact crop takes place in the application) and reducing resolution to that appropriate for the project. I put them also into the working directory with an amended filename, usually a prefix letter.

I did it actually similar. Still problems with some missing images.
I'm now working on a couple of new documents after deleting the old user profile.
I'll let you know how things work after doing this.

[serol1971]

I have a similar problem on Ubuntu 10.10. I copied images previously inserted from a Draw document as GDI meta-graphics to another Writer document and suddenly all images where gone. Both Writer documents (source and destination) where in the same directory. I opened the archive and could not find the image files in the images directory.

[ian.dawson.uk]

I had a similar problem - with OpenOffice 4.1.5 - I had a document with images (as bitmaps) in it - I have been editing and saving that on and off for weeks.
Then the other day it was showing "Read errror" on all the images, and would not load them.
Luckily I had a backup.
I have since opened, edited, and closed the replacement doc ok.
Weird, and scary...

[RoryOF]

When working with images in OpenOffice experience shows it is good to turn off /Tools /Options /OpenOffice /Load-Save /General : Save AutoRecovery information. For some reason not yet discovered, the AutoRecovery process can lose the images. If doing that, it s advisable to make regular hand backups.

[John_Ha]

Analysis shows that there appear to be several different problems.

1. Multiple images are anchored to the same paragraph marker or poorly located anchors

This typically occurs if a user drags many images into a document. When you drag an image into a document it is Anchored to a paragraph. If several images are anchored to the same End of paragraph marker then the problem occurs. Also, scrolling is very slow and the images overlay each other and are cut into pieces.

Similarly, if anchors are located a long way away from the image - on a different page for example - the problem can arise.

The problem arises because Writer is doing a lot of work to locate the images because of the multiple images on each anchor, or the poorly placed anchors. The solution is to ensure that each image is anchored to its own paragraph mark, and the anchor is close to where the image is positioned on the page. Note that, when you drag an image into Writer, it is anchored to the paragraph marker associated with the paragraph where the cursor is located.

If you wish to demonstrate it, create a new text document with an empty page. The empty page has one "End of paragraph" marker ( ¶ pilcrow ) at the top. Now drag in about ten different images (they must be different). Now scroll. Sooner or later you will lose some or all of the images. Now repeat the test but first press Enter many times to add many End of paragraph markers. Click an End of paragraph marker and drag an image in. Click another End of paragraph marker and drag another image in. Each image is now anchored it to its own End of paragraph marker. Make sure each image is close to its anchor. Scroll. You will now not lose any images and scrolling will be quick.

2. AutoRecovery is switched on

There are some extremely unusual cases where images are lost at the precise time at which an AutoRecovery takes place. It is file specific and small changes to the file stop it happening.

See [Tutorial] Some useful hints on using images for a more in depth discussion, and how best to handle images in Writer.