5

When I start a new poster project which is to be printed on A4 paper, I select Gimp's A4 dimension template, but as I recently found out, it is actually NOT A4. If I import the finished product into MS Word which uses standard A4 sizes, my picture turns out to be longer than expected.

Why is it so? Is it a problem in Gimp or are there different A4 dimensions for text and different for pictures?

Improve this question
5
  • you mean to copy and paste from Gimp to Word?
    – Rosenthal
    Sep 13, 2014 at 17:27
  • no. what i mean is that an a4 document created in word has width 'A' pixels and height 'B' pixels. whereas gimp's A4 sheet has width 'P' pixels and height 'Q' pixels. So the 2 things, although being A4, do not match up in sizes. Why so?
    – zhirzh
    Sep 13, 2014 at 17:46
  • 1
    What's the resolution (ppi) setting for your Gimp file? Word assumes everything is 72 or 96ppi. A higher PPI in gimp will result in a larger file in Word.
    – Scott
    Sep 13, 2014 at 18:42
  • true that. but isn't it true that increasing or decreasing the ppi will still preserve the ratio? Because as it turns out, even the ratios don't match.
    – zhirzh
    Sep 13, 2014 at 18:50
  • I always have to resize the images when I import them to Word, and I don't know why. Good question.
    – Rosenthal
    Sep 13, 2014 at 18:50

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
4

Probably it would be more useful if you specified the dimensions of your document instead of naming it "P" and "Q".

1) I'm posting the dimensions here. The A4 paper is 21.0 x 29.7 cm.

2) The gimp's A4 template generates a file of 300 ppi.

3) 300ppi converted to ppcm are: 300/2.54 which does not give us an exact number. 118.11 ppcm.

4) 118.11 ppcm x 21 cm= 2480 px
118.11 ppcm x 29.7 cm = 3508 px

5) The generated image from the templete A4 in gimp is 2480 x 3508 px. Yes it is correct.

Any strange behavior on Word importing files is that: a strange behavior on Word when you import files.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    I´m adding this as a coment. We don't know what was the process to import the file into word, or the settings on the image configuration, file format, etc. That is why I'm calling that "strange behavior".
    – Rafael
    Mar 16, 2015 at 3:40
1

GIMP correctly informs the user on the image size based on the number of pixels and resolution metadata - as can be set on image->print size... menu option. It may be that some of the less used image formats have a buggy export of the resolution information, but that is certainly not the case for PNG or JPG.

As put in the comments above it is MS Word which is at fault, assuming fixed Pixel Per Inch information, regardless of the resolution recorded in the image headers.

As a work-around, got to the Image -> Scale image... dialog, and fixing your image size in inches or millimeters, change the resolution for one of those hardcoded by MS Word - which, as the comment from @Scott should be 72 or 96 ppi. (Of course your image will have less pixels, and therefore less detail).

Improve this answer
1

Im new to Gimp and I observed the EXACT same problem. My page would import to Windows longer than it should and my custom made graph was all messed up.

This is the solution I use until something better comes along...

Note: when I transfer my work to word I want absolutely NO margins whatsoever. So I want my gimp page to be exactly the size of an A4 page.

  1. I maintain the same page dimensions (21.0 x 29.7 cm) and ppi at 300 in Gimp.
  2. I create my page as normally I would (with layers etc.) Except I make it shorter. So there is a white margin under my work.
  3. When I am finished I "copy visible" and paste it onto my word page. My work fills the page and the white margin is hidden because it extends below the windows page.

THIS IS OBVIOUSLY NOT a good solution for all projects....but it solved some problems of my own.

I hope I explained this well for you and anyone having the same problem.

Improve this answer
1
  • 3
    Hi. Welcome to GDSE. This is not a GIMP problem. GIMP's A4 300ppi template is 209.97mm x 297.01mm (which rounds to 210 x 297mm). The pixel dimensions are 2480px x 3508px. This is the correct size. Even after exporting from GIMP, the image size is still the same. It's exactly the same as Photoshop's A4 300ppi template. The problem is with MS Word.
    – Billy Kerr
    Sep 25, 2020 at 11:35

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.