If you’ve ever tried to enlarge a small picture in Microsoft Word, you know that the results can be pretty poor. The image becomes blurry and pixelated, and it’s generally just not a good look.
You can stop Word from reducing the detail in your original photo, but enlarging a small image cannot restore detail that was never there. Below are the steps for preserving the available quality while resizing a picture in Word.
1) Start by opening your document in Word for Windows. Select File, then Options from the bottom left corner of the screen, as shown below.
2) Now open “Advanced” and go to the “Image Size and Quality” section. Check that the document name in its dropdown is the file you want to change. Choose All New Documents only if you want the setting to apply to future Word documents too.
3) Tick “Do not compress images in file”. If the Default resolution list is available, choose High fidelity, then press OK. Keeping uncompressed images can make your document larger.
4) Now insert the image into your document from Insert > Pictures and select the preferred source to insert the image.
5) Select the image and resize it by dragging a corner circle. Hold Shift as you drag to maintain its proportions. For a precise size, use the Height and Width boxes in the ribbon’s Picture Format tab, called Picture Tools Format in some versions. Keep Lock aspect ratio enabled in the Size options to avoid stretching the picture.
That’s it! You have resized the picture while avoiding Word’s automatic compression. If it still looks blurry at the size you need, insert a higher-resolution original; changing this setting cannot undo detail already lost to earlier compression.
On a Mac, the comparable resolution setting is under Word > Preferences > Edit > Image Size and Quality: choose High fidelity in the Default resolution list. The Windows Options screens above do not apply to Word for the web.
Alternative Way To Resize an Image Without Losing Quality
Another option is a third-party image editor such as GIMP. Its Image > Scale Image command lets you choose the pixel dimensions and interpolation method. Enlarging a photo calculates extra pixels, so it can still look softer and does not recover missing detail.
If you don’t want to download software, you can use an online image editor such as Fotor. The screenshots below show its earlier editor; the current resizer uses different button labels. Here is how to resize your image:
1. Visit the Fotor website. The older page below says “Resize Your Images Now”; on the current resizer, use “Upload Image”.
2. Select your image by clicking the upload button or dragging and dropping it into the interface. The screenshot below shows the earlier “Open Image” button for this step.
3. Enter the new dimensions for your image and keep the aspect ratio locked. Use “Resize Image” to preview the result in the current resizer; the earlier editor shown below uses “Apply”.
4. Check the resized preview, then download the image. The download control may be in a different position from the earlier editor shown above.
The resized photo is now ready to insert into Word. Check it at the intended display or print size before using it; a larger pixel count alone does not guarantee a sharper photograph.
Conclusion
Resizing images is a common task we all need to do at some point. We have simply discussed the most basic technique for resizing photographs on Word as well as an alternative to do so. Use the highest-resolution original available and avoid unnecessary compression, then check the result at its final size. Best of luck!
