how to extract images from .docx/.doc Word documents

Lately I've been in a situation where I had an image embedded into a .docx Word document, and I absolutely needed to get the original image file in order to be able to retrieve the original best-quality picture. See the screenshot below? My document contains a picture, it shows up as a small thumbnail, but I need the original high-resolution picture. This tutorial shows the way, it works with Microsoft Word 2007 and above.

There are several ways to retrieve or extract images from a Word document. I am going to be listing the top 3 ways to do so in this article. Feel free to use whichever way you want, but expect different results. Here is the article index here:

1. Renaming the .docx to .zip, opening the zip file and extracting the images (Best way!)
2. Copying and pasting the image into a picture processing application (Alright)
3. Saving the document as a web page and retreiving the generated images (Nice!)

Alternatively you could just use the Snipping Tool from Windows Vista/7, which allows you to save a portion of the screen into an image. Try it, it's pretty much self explanatory, but the final quality of the picture depends on how much you can fit on your screen.

Option #1: renaming the .docx to .zip

This is definitely the best way to retrieve your images. Microsoft Word's .docx documents are actually zip files! Before you ask: what if your document is a .doc, a .html, .odt or any other format? Well just open the document in Word and save it as .docx file, Word will convert it to a zip/docx file for you. So here is my file:

Note: if you do not see the .docx at the end of the file name, you *MUST* follow this tutorial for this to work (this will help you show file extensions in Windows Explorer).

I am going to rename the file to "products.zip" here, note as seen on the screenshot below, the icon changes to something different:

Now, double click your .zip file to open it with whatever program is associated with Zip files on your computer. In my case, Winrar does the job. If the document still opened with Word, you probably did not read carefully enough -- go back to the part where I say to follow this tutorial.

Open the "word" folder as seen in the above screenshot. You should be seeing a "media" folder:

Open it, and you'll now see all the images that appear in your document.

These are the original images that were inserted in the documents, regardless of the size in which they appear when viewing your document. You can extract them to your storage disk by selecting them and dragging&dropping them to the folder of your choice.

Option #2: copying and pasting the image

Another obvious option is to simply select the picture in Word, click Ctrl+C to copy the picture to the clipboard:

If you have and use a design/picture processing tool such as Photoshop, Paint shop pro or something, just open it and paste the picture by pressing Ctrl+V. I don't have anything like this, so I'll just open Paint:

Press Ctrl+V to paste the image into the current canvas in Paint. Unfortunately, the picture is copied in the same size as it appears in Word. If you want a bigger version, you'll have to resize the image in Word first, copy it again, and paste it again in Paint! This is obviously not the best way to go, but it can be easier and faster than the first option I described earlier.

Option #3: saving the document as a Web page

This last option is technically the easiest in my opinion. First, open your document in Word, then save it as a Web page:

When offered to select the format, make sure to choose the "Web page" format... do NOT select "Web page (filtered)", this option will export low-resolution images. The "Web page" option on the other hand exports the original images as well as thumbnails.

Once the file is saved as a Web page, you will find that two new icons appear in your folder:

There's the document itself, but also a folder that Word generated for you. Open the folder to reveal the images (both in original and thumbnail sizes):

You can now copy or save those files to other folders of your computer.

Conclusion

That's it! That wasn't so hard, was it? I still wonder why Microsoft didn't originally include this feature in the Word application itself. In my opinion, we should be able to just right-click an image and see a "Save image as..." option in the menu.

Now, why did I bother writing about this on what is seemingly a sysadmin's/developer's blog, you ask? Because I've been looking this up on the web and most of the answers I found were unsatisfying. It took me ages before I finally stumbled upon a blog article that revealed the docx/zip trick. When I don't (or hardly) find the answer to my questions, I usually whip up a quick article about what I was looking for, and hopefully it ends up helping people.

How to Send any files instantly from one device to another with Send Anywhere

Looking for a simple yet effective way to send any file instantly from one device to another? check out Send Anywhere. It’s a unique web service that gives you the ability to transfer files over 3G/4G or your WiFi connection.

It supports any type of files, how large they are and there’s also no limit on the number of files you’re sending. Another thing that caught my attention with Send Anywhere is that the files we’re sending aren’t stored anywhere on the internet, their priority transferring path is p2p, with NO going through server unless the connection isn’t good. That’s when it’ll pass through an optimal node server, still, without storing.

Here’s how it works.

There is no sign-up or log-in required, no need to register for anything. Visit the website and simply add files that you want to send.

After you’ve selected the files, click on ‘send files’. You’ll instantly receive a random/unique key. If there are devices nearby, click on ‘send key’ and it will start searching. Go to the receiving device or simply give the key to the recipient whom you want to send the file.

As soon they input the key and click on receive, you’ll see a notification that the file has been transferred. And that’s it. It’s as simple as that.

Features like sending files directly & instantly across networks (local network or via cellular data) and across all platforms & connected devices (Android, IOS, Web) is something you’ll really like. More features are coming soon as well.

Check out Send Anywhere

How To Remove Installed Applications From Windows 8

When you freshly install an operating system, there will be some of the basic applications available by default. Especially in Windows, all the basic stuffs like Notepad, Wordpad, Paint, etc., will be installed automatically. Windows 8 has moved a step forward and comes with plenty of Microsoft applications by default. This might be helpful at sometimes, but many users find these apps are unwanted in their PC. The problem in Windows is, it doesn’t have an option to uninstall the default apps, but we have many third party applications available to do that. Today, I’ve come with one such application called “Windows 8 App Remover”, exclusively for Windows 8 users. Here’s how it  works.

Windows 8 App Remover is a free application for PC, which also works with the new Windows 8.1 update. You can download the app using the link at the end of this post. After you install the app, you will see a screen as shown in the screenshot below. In Windows 8, there will be default apps like Bing Sports, Weather, Zune Music, Video, etc. All the junk apps on your PC will be listed on the home page of the application. You can select them all or choose the one you need and remove all the apps at the same time.

To start removing the apps, first you have to choose the versions of Windows in the top left corner. The apps available on your PC will be highlighted and other apps will look gray. The app also has an option to uninstall apps by mounting .wim (Windows Imaging Format) files from your PC. All the apps you uninstall using app remover cannot be restored. If you want the app again, you have to download and install that particular application manually.

This is a must have application for all the Windows 8 users to free up some space and it gives a clutter free interface. Try this new app on your Windows machine and share your experience with us in the comments. Thanks for reading, do share this post with your friends.

Download Windows 8 App Remover